Tourism gets a big boost in Nellore district

Nellore: State Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy said that the Amma Hastham was a prestigious programme taken up by the government to supply essential commodities effectively at subsidised rates to the white card holders. Participating in the Amma Hastham programme at Penchalakona in Ravuru mandal in the district on Monday, the minister said that as the prices of the essential commodities have skyrocketed in recent times, the Amma Hastam programme was launched by Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on the auspicious day of Ugadi at Hyderabad to provide 9 types of essential commodities like palm oil, tuvar dal, wheat, sugar, salt, chillies, tamarind and turmeric for Rs 185 for the benefit of the poor and the lower middle classes. Ramnarayana Reddy said that the Amma Hastham programme would benefit nearly 2.25 crore ration card holders. He said under the second phase, the government had decided to issue white ration cards to another 15 lakh people. Totally, the programme would benefit 2.40 crore population. He said that rice would be supplied at Re 1 under the Mana Biyyam scheme and the government was contemplating to mobilize 1.44 lakh metric tonnes of rice and till now it had mobilized 1 lakh tonnes of rice. He said that the Mana Biyyam scheme would be implemented from May 1 effectively, he said. The Finance Minister also distributed bags containing 9 varieties of essential commodities to the poor white card holders in Indikuripet. Speaking on the occasion, State Tourism Minister Vatti Vasantha Kumar said that Rs 50 crore had been sanctioned for giving a big boost to the tourism sector in the district. He said that the Penushila Lakshminarasimhaswamy Community Authority Ecotourism Park, Tourism Archival Centre, Tourism Guest house buildings were inaugurated. These were taken up at a cost of Rs 4.50 crore, he said. The Minister said that another Rs 160 crore would be released by the State government during this financial year 2013-14 to develop the tourism sector and the Central government would sanction another Rs 200 crore for developing tourism in the State. Earlier, the ministers inaugurated the tourism eco-park and the guest houses meant for the tourists. Speaking on the occasion, District Collector B Sreedhar said that the Amma Hastam would be implemented to benefit 8 lakhs of white ration card holders. He said that though the actual cost of 9 essential commodities was Rs 295, it would be supplied for only Rs 185 to the beneficiaries. Later, guest houses were inaugurated in Jonnavada and Narasimhakonda. Joint Collector B Lakshmikantham, district cooperative bank president Dhananjaya Reddy, district marketing chairman Sumanth Reddy, Madasu Gangadharam, Neduramalli Ram Kumar and others were present on the occasion.