Kadapa Airport runway expansion works will be completed by next March: Centre

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri said the expansion work at Kadapa Airport would be completed by March next year. Replying to a question posed by YSRCP member V Vijayasai Reddy in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, he said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was overseeing the expansion of existing runways, taxiways and aprons at Kadapa airport. He said the Kadapa Airport expansion work was started in 2017 at an estimated cost of Rs 94 crore.

Minister of Labour Santosh Gangwar said the central government has taken several steps to help companies and staff caught up in the financial crisis with the lockdown imposed on the coronavirus outbreak. He said the government had paid Rs 4,860 crore from March to August this year towards provident fund (PF) payments in support of companies and employees. The minister was responded to a question by YSRCP member V Vijayasai Reddy in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

In a written reply, the minister said that in companies with less than 100 employees and 90 per cent of them having a salary of less than Rs 15,000, the share of employee and employer PF‌ was paid by the government for the first three months. It was later revealed that the scheme was extended for another three months. He said the coming demands on the extension of the scheme would be decided in consultation with the Finance Ministry. The minister said the scheme, which has been implemented across the country, has benefited 11,196 companies and one lakh 92 thousand 431 employees in Andhra Pradesh as on September 16.

Minister of State for Social Justice Shri Krishnapal Gurjar has said that the government has launched a scheme in the name of Dr. Ambedkar to provide interest free subsidized foreign education loans to promote higher education among students belonging to weaker sections and economically backward classes.