Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Sunday allocated Rs 72.08 crore as grant to improve the financial position of four district central cooperative banks at Ramnad, Tirunelveli, Pudukottai and Madurai, and 23 deserving primary agricultural cooperative societies. Last year, the CM had granted Rs 82.54 crore for the purpose.
Of the Rs 72.08 crore grant, Rs 1.87 crore would be allocated for the 23 cooperative societies and Rs 70.20 crore would be given for the cooperative central banks, an officials release here said.
The grant will help facilitate speedy disbursal of short-term loans for farmers and rural people at a nominal interest rate.
City warms up for 20th Asian Athletic Meet
Jayalalithaa on Sunday discussed the arrangements being made for the 20th Asian Athletic Championship (AAC) to be held here in August, 2013.
In May, the Chief Minister had announced that Chennai would host the AAC, in which sportspersons from 44 countries are expected to participate and Rs 40 crore would be allocated for the purpose.
Jayalalithaa had said with a view to conduct this event in an excellent manner, the synthetic track in Nehru Indoor Stadium would be replaced and a new warm up track would also be laid. All the facilities in the stadium would be upgraded to international standards and sports equipment on par with global standards would be purchased for the event. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also discussed the demands made by the Archery Association of Tamil Nadu.
Senior Ministers including School Education Minister N R Sivapathy and top officials took part in the meeting. The Chief Minister also reviewed the power situation in the State.
Taking Stalk on Water Sharing with Kerala Jayalalithaa also held discussions on sharing of water with Kerala under The Parambikulam-Ahziyar Agreement.
Senior ministers including PWD Minister K V Ramalingam, chief secretary Debendranath Sarangi, PWD secretary M Saikumar and top officials took part in the meeting.
On December 27, a decision to release 1.2 tmcft of water to Kerala under the PAP Project agreement was taken at the meeting of the Joint Water Regulatory Board.