The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has sanctioned ₹5,000 crore as credit guarantee fund for the MSME sector, informs Minister for Information and Public Relations Kolusu Parthasarathy. Addressing the media on Wednesday after the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Parthasarathy said this financial assistance would be given through the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme.

He said the State government would converge the Central government schemes to ensure maximum benefit to the industrial sector. He said the State government had been providing financial support to the industrial sector with an aim to generate at least 20 lakh jobs in five years. On the village and ward secretariat volunteer system, he said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu suggested to the officials to bring a comprehensive policy.

Mr. Parthasarathy further said that the YSRCP government did not renew the tenure of the volunteers. As per the government records, their tenure ended in August 2023 itself. On the other hand, more than 1.1 lakh volunteers had already resigned. The Minister said that the Cabinet suggested to the government to write a letter to the Central government requesting it to change the name of the Bhogapuram International Airport after Alluri Sitharama Raju.

He said the Cabinet also accepted a proposal to maintain health history of all the students in the State. He said the government would ensure every student had ‘APAAR ID’ for the purpose. The Cabinet also approved the proposal to establish a corporation for ex-servicemen and sanctioned Rs. 10 crore as corpus fund. He said the Cabinet also approved to sanction NOC to SRM University to apply for ‘Deemed to be University’ status.

The Minister said the government would request the Central government to provide 33% reservation for BCs in law-making bodies. He said the Cabinet also approved the proposal to sanction tenant farmers cards to enable them to get loans from banks. For these cards, the tenants need not obtain signatures from the farmers, he added.

He said the Cabinet instructed the government to complete the Polavaram irrigation project in the next two-and-a-half years. He added that the Cabinet also decided to allow the existing contractor to continue construction of Polavaram. As all reservoirs in the State were brimming with water, the Chief Minister instructed the Water Resources Department to ensure sufficient water for irrigation in Rayalaseema.