VIJAYAWADA: In a bid to encourage people and institutions to contribute to the Nadu-Nedu scheme, under which government schools and hospitals are being revamped, the State Council of Ministers, which met on Thursday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, decided to invite donors to participate in the prestigious programme.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal to name the schools and hospitals after the donors. For that, the donation amount should be Rs 50 lakh for satellite foundation schools, Rs 1 crore for primary schools and Rs 3 crore for high schools and Rs 1 crore for Primary Health Centres, Rs 5 crore for Community healthcare centres and Rs 10 crore for Area hospitals.
“The decision was taken to encourage people and institutions to contribute for the development of schools and hospitals, as part of their social obligation,” Minister for Information and Public Relations Perni Venkataramiah told the media after the Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet also approved the proposal of Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. for skilling students in the state to leverage the IT giant’s expertise in technology and education to train 1,62,000 students and unemployed youth in 300 colleges and skill development centres in 40 certification courses. Andhra Pradesh will be the first state in the country to have such an MoU with Microsoft, though other states have made similar proposals.
YSR Aasara
The minister said fulfilling the election promise made on April 11, 2019 to pay the DWCRA loans due to banks in four instalments, YSR Aasara programme was launched and Rs 6,318 crore was paid to 78,08,101 beneficiaries belonging to over 8,000 groups.
“The Cabinet approved the payment of the second instalment of Rs 6,470.76 crore under the scheme. In the first phase, a few thousand groups were left out owing to technical reasons and they will be provided both first and second instalments together. As on April 11,2019, a total Rs 27,168.83 crore worth of loans were due,” he elaborated. A 10-day orientation programme will be held for the beneficiary groups to educate them for investing the amount they receive.
Land allotments
The Cabinet approved allotment of government lands to different organisations for various purposes. It allocated two acres in Adavitakkellapadu of Guntur district to a renowned badminton player for setting up a badminton academy.
It also decided to transfer 15 acres of government land in Majjivalasa village, Araku mandal of Visakhapatnam district to the Tribal Welfare Department for construction of Eklavya Model School, allocate 2.56 acre government land in Yadamari mandal of Chittoor district at Rs 30 lakh per acre to Indian Oil Corporation for constructing IOCL terminal, allocate 53.45 acres in Masapeta mandal of Rayachoti mandal in Kadapa district for Yogi Vemana University PG Centre.
Approval was also given by the Cabinet to give Rs 223 acres of land in Yadavalle of Chilkaluripeta mandal, Guntur district to APMDC and allocate 31 cents of land in Rajamahendravaram to the Minorities Welfare Department for constructing a community hall. It also allocated 10 acres land in Srisailam on a 33-year lease to Srisaila Jagadguru Panditaradhya Seva Samithi Trust.
It approved widening of Punganuru Branch Canal from 79.600 km to 220.350 km as part of Rayalaseema Drought Mitigation project - HNSS Project Phase 2 works at a cost of Rs 1,929 crore in relaxation of FRBM norms. It also approved to allot 4.59 acres of land in Putlampalli village of Kadapa mandal to LV Prasad Eye Institute.