Hyderabad: A state government delegation, led by Deputy Chief Ministers Mahmood Ali and Kadiam Srihari, on Wednesday met Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and requested him to release Rs 1,000 crore to take up drought relief work in the State.
The delegation submitted a memorandum on the drought-affected mandals and told the Union minister that the loss due to the drought conditions was an estimated Rs 2,514 crore.
All the TRS MPs, along with state agriculture minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and the two special representatives of the government in Delhi Tejavath Ramachandru and S. Venugopala Chary, later met Union minorities affairs minister Najma Heptullah and sought increase in the quota for Haj pilgrims and also requested discontinuation of the supply of suitcases / hand bags sold to Haj pilgrims as they are of substandard quality. The delegation wanted the pilgrims be allowed to purchase the bags on their own.
The delegation later met Saud Mohammed Alsati, Saudi Ambassador to India and asked the Kingdom to start a separate Embassy in Hyderabad as early as possible. This will make it easier for the lakhs of people from TS travelling to Saudi Arabia, especially for Hajj pilgrims.
Later in the day, the delegation met Union minister for textiles Santosh Kumar Gangwar and pressed for strict implementation of the MSP of Rs 4,100 per quintal for cotton, as announced earlier by the Centre.
Later, the team met railway minister Suresh Prabu and requested him to reconsider the proposal of setting up a wagon factory in Warangal district. The proposal was turned down by the Railway Board earlier.
CM should have led the team: Congress
Accusing the TRS government of making an “ineffective” representation to the Centre on farmers’ issues and seeking help for drought-hit mandals, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Shabbir Ali on Wednesday said that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao should have led the delegation himself, instead of sending a team of ministers to Delhi.
Mr Shabbir Ali told reporters, “The CM should have led an all-party delegation to Delhi to pressurise the Centre for immediate release of at least Rs 1,000 crore for drought-hit farmers. Instead, the TS government made a weak representation, leaving scope for blame-game in the future. Of the 443 rural mandals, 231 have been declared drought-hit. What can be more important for KCR than addressing problems of the affected farmers?”
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