KCR meets Modi, seeks ₹20,000-cr aid
: Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday requested the Centre to extend ₹20,000 crore worth financial assistance for the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme, being regarded as politically crucial ahead of the general elections next year.
Rao met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in the afternoon and submitted a wishlist comprising 10 major issues pertaining to the state.
“The chief minister submitted separate letters to the Prime Minister on every subject. Modi positively responded on all the issues that were brought to his notice,” an official communique form the chief minister’s office said.
Describing Kaleshwaram project as the lifeline of Telangana, Rao said the irrigation scheme, being built at an estimated cost of ₹80,500 crore, promises to provide irrigation facility to one crore acres of land, besides supplying water for drinking and industrial purposes. The state government claims the project would provide irrigation to 18 lakh acres in 2018 alone, before the completion of the entire project.
“I thank the Prime Minister for according approvals from various ministries at an early date. We have made budgetary provision of ₹25,000 crore (for all irrigation projects) besides procuring loan from financial institutions to the tune of ₹22,000 crore. We still need funds and we request the Centre to release ₹20,000 crore to complete the (Kaleshwaram) project,” he said.
The Telangana chief minister also requested the Centre to expedite formation of separate high courts for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
“At present, out of 29 judges in the (Hyderabad) high court, only six are from Telangana. Therefore, justice would be done to Telangana if a separate high court is formed for the state at the earliest,” he said.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted two weeks time to the Centre to respond to a plea filed by the son of a person, who was mediating between the government and rebel group United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) since 1991 and allegedly went missing two months ago.
Rebati Phukan’s son claimed in the top court that his father went missing on April 22 and quoted ULFA (Independent) chief Paresh Baruah as saying that he may be in custody of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), military intelligence or the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as they “have a rivalry amongst them”.
A vacation bench comprising justices U U Lalit and Deepak Gupta allowed the request made by the Centre’s counsel who said they have been recently served with the notice issued to them by the apex court and they would file an affidavit within two weeks.
The counsel appearing for Assam told the bench that they would place certain “confidential documents” in the matter before the court for its perusal.
“Union of India prays and is granted two weeks time to file affidavit. The counsel appearing for Assam submits that he would like to place certain confidential documents before the court for perusal. Let the matter be called on in the second week of July,” the bench said.
On June 1, the SC had sought replies from the Centre, Assam and Meghalaya governments on the plea which claimed that a doctor reportedly treated Phukan in Meghalaya few days ago.
The petitioner had earlier told the court the Assam chief minister has assured all possible help in finding Phukan but they do not know whether he was in captivity, as various central agencies were involved in the case.
Phukan was working as a peace negotiator between the Centre and ULFA since 1991 to facilitate a dialogue and the plea filed by his son sought a direction to the authorities, including Assam government, to produce him before the court.
He was appointed as a member of the erstwhile People’s Consultative Group formed by the ULFA in 2005 to mediate between the rebel group and the Centre. PTI
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