Centre to provide budgetary support to AP: Venkaiah
Vijayawada: Union Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said the central government would provide budgetary support to Andhra Pradesh. “The Union government is committed to support the state for its comprehensive growth. The government of Andhra Pradesh is facing financial deficit after bifurcation and it is the duty of the Union government to support the AP government financially by allocating funds through budget,” Naidu told reporters at a press conference here. All promises made during the time of discussions on the bifurcation Bill will be fulfilled by the NDA government, Naidu assured. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is discussing the issue of supporting Andhra Pradesh through the coming central budget, the senior BJP leader said. The allocations for AP in future (from the next financial year) will be decided by the Finance Commission, Naidu said. He said that he wrote letters to all ministers on June 1 on the issues to be considered for AP’s development. The NDA government will look after the development of all states, including Telangana, and there would not be any discrimination, he said. Naidu asked the political parties from both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana not to create problems in the name of Polavaram irrigation project. (PTI)
Modi effect: Special cleanliness drive at MHA, DoPT offices
New Delhi: On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s direction, a special drive was started on Sunday to clean offices of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) at North Block here. The drive is aimed at creating healthy working environment for the staff in the two key departments by getting rid of clutter and weeding out old and unwanted files, officials said. The staff in both the departments have been told to keep their working space clean. Besides, senior officials in the MHA and DoPT will be ensuring that their subordinates work in neat and clean offices, a DoPT official said. The move assume significance as Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth has recently written to secretaries of various central government departments pressing the need for clean working space.s Seth has apparently written to all secretaries following a directive from the Prime Minister, the official said. The government wants to do away with people’s perception that government buildings and offices are untidy. The department heads have been told to do away with unwanted files so that more space can be created for other useful purposes, he said. (PTI)
Two siblings, teenage girl kidnapped in Moga
Moga: Two minor siblings and a teenaged girl were allegedly kidnapped in the district in separate incidents, police said on Sunday. In the first case, 11-year-old girl Harpreet Kaur and her 9-year-old brother Sukhpreet Singh were kidnapped from their house at Ramoowala village here while they were alone there Saturday, police said. The mother of the children is dead and the father, who is a labourer, was away at the time of the incident. In the second case, an 18-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped from her house yesterday. As per the complaint filed by her father, the girl was allegedly abducted by two youths, police said. A Special Investigation Team has been set up for speedy investigation of both the cases, police said. (PTI)