Naidu to hold 'e-Cabinet' meeting today HYDERABAD: A day after it had constituted three-member panel to examine the issue of shifting the seat of power from Hyderabad to Andhra Pradesh, the state Cabinet will be meeting here on Monday to review the 100-day rule of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and also to take course correction measures.
Already, the tech-savvy Naidu has directed his ministerial colleagues to attend the meeting with I-Pads instead of bundles of files to create a record of sorts in the history of the country by holding the first-ever 'e-Cabinet meeting'.
At the Cabinet meeting, which will be presided over by the chief minister, the main focus is likely to be on implementation of the crop loan waiver scheme at the earliest. Though Naidu has, time and again, stated that he is committed to implementing the loan waiver scheme, the cash-starved government is still struggling to mobilise financial resources to effectively implement it.
In the wake of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) aversion to encourage loan waiver and Centre's reported helplessness to help the state, Naidu's government is now concentrating on weeding out 'bogus borrowers', who had availed crop loans from various banks, so as to lessen the financial burden on it.
But, at the same time, the government's time-buying attitude on implementing the loan waiver, is inviting criticism from opposition parties. The Cabinet will take stock of the situation and try to find ways and means to mobilise finances to implement the scheme.
The other key issue which might figure at the meeting is how to shift the government offices from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. As Naidu wants to build the capital in three years, the cabinet might discuss the 'land pooling' system to obtain lands for the capital.
As the collectors of Krishna and Guntur districts were directed to send a detailed report on the availability of lands in the two districts, nearer the Vijayawada-Guntur stretch, by Wednesday, the cabinet might formulate some guidelines to officials on obtaining lands from farmers by 'land pooling'.
The issue of setting up an authority to expedite the process of designing and constructing the capital city is also likely to be taken up by the cabinet.
Besides, four flagship programmes _ Anna Canteens, NTR Sujala Drinking Water Supply Scheme, enhancement of the amount for old-age pensions and supplying of 24X7 uninterrupted power to domestic and industrial consumers _ might be examined by the cabinet as the government has decided to launch all these programmes on October 2 in a grand manner.
News Posted: 15 September, 2014
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