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HYDERABAD, Dec. 10

THE Andhra Pradesh Government has approved a Government guarantee of Rs 1,357 crore for the Transmission Corporation of AP (APTransco) for various developmental works and Rs 4,618 crore for the Generation Corporation of AP (APGenco) for issue of bonds towards payment of pension of retired employees and provident fund trusts of APTransco, APGenco and DisComs.

The Government guarantee is to support the loan to be obtained by APTransco from various financial agencies for development works covering strengthening the transmission and distribution network system and electrification of weaker section colonies.

Further, the Government has also decided to clear guarantee of Rs 192 crore to APGenco for loan to be obtained from Power Finance Corporation for undertaking various works relating to Vijayawada, Kothagudem and Nellore thermal power stations.

The State Information Minister, Mr S. Chandra Mohan Reddy, briefing newspersons after the State Cabinet meeting on Tuesday said that the Government guarantee of Rs 4,618 crore for APGenco was in favour of Master Trust that will support payment of pension of retired employees of all corporations and DisComs.

The Government also sanctioned higher dearness allowance to the State Government employees and employees of local bodies and aided institutions with effect from July 1, 2002.

The increase in DA will be about 2.5 per cent of pay. Further, the Cabinet also sanctioned ad hoc increase of Rs 26 per month to village administrative officers and village servants from July this year.

However, the arrears up to December 2002 would be credited to the GPF accounts of the employees and cash would be paid from January 2003, Mr Reddy said.

In yet another important decision, the Cabinet approved the issuance of essentiality certificate for the establishment of four medical and four dental colleges as recommended by a committee headed by Mr Justice Y. Bhasker Rao and Mr Justice S.V.Maruthi.

In addition to this, the proposal of Siddhartha Academy of General and Technical Education, Vijayawada, for enhancing the number of seats from 100 to 150, was approved by the Government as per the recommendations of the committee.

The Government, in order to support sugarcane growers, approved a decision to extend the entire purchase tax incentive of Rs 60 per tonne by sugar factories and Rs 22 per tonne by khandsari sugar mills. Though this would mean a revenue loss of about Rs 43 crore to the State exchequer, this would help cane growers, according to Mr Reddy.

While encouraging farmers to go for irrigated dry crops during the rabi season, the Government called upon the farming community to ensure that all sowing operations were concluded by the end of December 2002 and harvest by March end.

This decision was taken to ensure that the ryots did not have to be dependent on power over a longer period.

With regard to augmentation of drinking water to the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, the Government decided to expedite the Krishna water pipeline project as the project can partially ease the water crisis in the State.

Though the Government has deployed about Rs 112 crore for drinking water projects, the Cabinet decided to explore the possibility of extending the Krishna water project to Himayatsagar and Osmansagar from Shahbnagar.

Towards this end, the Government directed the water board authorities to take up a feasibility study and submit a report to expedite the project, Mr Reddy said.

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