Govt announces slew of sops

Chittoor Drinking Water Project Approved

• Assembly Session from 12th
• State to appeal in SC against Brijesh Kumar Tribunal Award
• All-party meet to discuss Award
• Inauguration of Pulichintala project on 7th
• 14,115 posts to be filled in 14 departments

Hyderabad: In what could be a first attempt to woo people of all regions ahead of the 2014 general election, State government on Tuesday announced a slew of sops that included a raise in the creamy layer income limit from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh for OBCs, recruitment for 14,115 posts in 14 government departments and the construction of 13.64 lakh houses for weaker sections under INDIRAMMA scheme this year.

The four and a half hour long marathon Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, has also taken several important decisions. The cabinet gave a nod to hold the Assembly session from December 12 following strong speculations that the Centre would forward the “ AP state Re-organization Bill” to the Assembly after the approval of the Union Cabinet.

Kiran Reddy has successfully answered the questions raised by some Telangana ministers on the ambitious water project for Chittoor district. The Cabinet approved the drinking water project to be taken up at a cost of Rs 4,300 crore in Chief Minister’s native district. Government would bear Rs 2300 crore and the remaining Rs 2000 crore would be procured from HUDCO.

Among the 14,000 odd vacancies, 8444 posts would be filled in ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) project under Women Development and Child Welfare department, 801 posts in Nizamabad medical college and general hospitals and the remaining posts would be filled in Forest and other departments.

Addressing the press after the meeting, State Information and Public Relations Minister D K Aruna said that the ex gratia has been increased to Rs 35 lakh from Rs 15 lakh for the MPs and MLAs and MLCs killed in Naxal violence. The amount has also been increased for the families of civilian victims from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, for Sarpanches and MPTCs and ZPTCs, the ex gratia increased to Rs 25 lakh from Rs 7.5 lakh and the compensation for Mandal Parishad Presidents and DCCB members would be hiked from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.

Chief Minister would be inaugurating the Pulichintala project on the 7th.

DK Aruna said that the cabinet has also decided to hold an all party meeting on Brijesh Kumar tribunal verdict on Krishna waters and fight the case in Supreme Court till the state gets justice in water allocations. The cabinet accorded permission for the for a survey launched to include Kapu community in BC category by allocating sufficient funds.

The other important decisions taken by the Cabinet were- allocation of Rs 1000 crore HUDCO loans to bring water to Hyderabad from Pranahitha- Chevella project, Rs 325 crore loans to debt-ridden APSRTC, constitution of Muncipal Building Tribunal and Rs 1470 crore allocations for rural water supply schemes.