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Journalism of Courage
Telugu Desam Party MPs will meet Prime Minister Vajpayee and his deputy Advani tomorrow to press for a Rs 2,300-crore package for tackling the drought situation in Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu will also send his Agriculture Minister V. Shovanadrishwar Rao to attend the crucial meeting.
The package will cover various state and Central schemes, which are already underway in drought-affected areas like procuring of fodder, drought pension, drinking water for rural and urban areas.
The TDP parliamentarians will also make a unique demand — to include Anantpur, a drought-prone area in Rayalseema district, under the Desert Development Programme. The programme has been awarded to Rajasthan and the MPs will ask for the same.
A report has already been tabled before the five-member Task Force on Drought headed by Advani, sources said. The Centre had sent a team headed by the Secretary Agriculture Ministry, P.K. Agarwal, to make an assessment report on how drought funds have been used in the state.
