Strongly advocating that the Congress take a stand in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has proposed a massive financial package for development of the Telangana region.
This package, he said, could be almost equivalent to the annual budget of Andhra Pradesh and benefit about 80 lakh families, constituting 78 per cent of the population.
Mr. Reddy stated this in his pitch to the Congress Core Committee which was leaked to a section of the Telugu television channels which aired it on Sunday.
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According to these channels, the Chief Minister had proposed a package of Rs. 1,11,750 crore for development of Telangana, including Rs. 85,500 crore for irrigation, taking into consideration completion of the Pranahita-Chevella Project and an increase in ayacut upto 97 lakh acres in Telangana district and 42 lakh acres through lift irrigation.
Other components proposed include Rs. 13,750 crore for electricity generation, Rs. 7,300 crore for education, Rs. 2,700 crore for medical and health and Rs. 2,500 crore for skill development and self-employment. Also, he proposed setting up of an engineering college, a medical college and a 500-bed hospital in each of the Telangana districts, apart from establishing a degree, polytechnic and ITI in every Assembly constituency.
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Pointing out that 1.13 lakh government jobs were already filled, Mr. Reddy said another 60,000 posts were in the pipeline and a majority of them would go to people from Telangana.