A high-level delegation led by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken called on Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here Friday. The Union Minister congratulated the Chief Minister and the government for “exemplary” progress achieved under the Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA). The Union Minister observed that MEPMA in AP stands as a model to the rest of the country. He also said the Central government would study and adopt this model for its newly-initiated National Urban Livelihood Mission. The delegation, earlier in the day, visited a house of an SHG woman at Kapra and interacted with Slum Level Federation, Town Level Federation, Bankers, beneficiaries of Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu and MEPMA. The Union Minister and members of the delegation observed that “the repayment behaviour of SHGs is very impressive” and felt that this was made possible by interest-free loans. Reddy said, `8,500 crore was given to women’s selfhelp groups through bank linkage, which was higher than in all municipalities of any state in the country.