Telangana government to invite Sonia Gandhi for state formation day celebrations

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka moved a resolution in the cabinet meeting in this regard, he said.

The minister said many of those who played a key role for the formation of Telangana would be felicitated on the occasion.

The cabinet decided to write to the Election Commission seeking its nod to the proposed felicitation (in view of the model conduct for Lok Sabha elections), he said.

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36 lakh metric tons of rice

He observed that the state government needs about 36 lakh metric tons of rice annually to run the mid-day meal scheme, social welfare hostels and rice for ₹two per kg scheme.

He said the government has decided to provide a bonus of ₹500 per quintal to farmers who cultivate fine rice variety of paddy from the coming season.

The Agriculture Department would issue a media statement on the list of fine rice varieties.

The minister also said the cabinet decided to procure at MSP the paddy which became wet due to unseasonal rains.

The farmers whose paddy got wet need not worry as the state government would purchase their produce, he said.

Noting that approximately 36 lakh metric tons of paddy produced during summer season has been procured so far by the civil supplies department, he said payment was made to the farmers within three days like never before.

The minister said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy gave directives to the officials to take tough measures to curb the menace of spurious seeds.

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On Kaleshwaram project

Referring to the interim report submitted by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) on the damage to the barrages of the mega Kaleshwaram project, state IT Minister D Sridhar Babu said the report says that failures in the Medigadda barrage began in 2019 and that some piers suffered damage as corrective action was not taken.

The report says that water should be discharged from the barrage fully and that other piers of the barrage or the barrage itself face danger, he said.

The report also says that they cannot give confidence on the dam’s survival even if any repairs are carried out by the state irrigation officials, he said.

The state government would go by the advice of technical experts on the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages of the Kaleshwaram project, he said, adding that it (the government) would endeavour to protect farmers’ interests.

Srinivas Reddy also said the government would improve the infrastructure and other facilities in schools before schools are reopened on 12 June after summer vacation.

About ₹600 crore would be spent on schools and that approximately ₹120 crore advance fund has been made, he said.

Sridhar Babu would head a cabinet sub-committee on the issue, he added.

The cabinet meeting was held on Monday, after obtaining the requisite approval from the Election Commission as the model code of conduct for Lok Sabha polls was in force.

The government had proposed to conduct the cabinet meeting on 18 May but it could not be held as the nod from EC was not received then.

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