YSR meets PM to press for increased financial assistance

New Delhi, Sep 5 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention for granting assistance of Rs 3,516 crore for damages caused by cyclonic floods in Vamshadhara, Nagavalli, Godavari and Krishna rivers.

After delivering his speech at the Chief Ministers meeting on Internal Security here, Dr Reddy met the Prime Minister and apprised him of the situation in the state. He said about 2.75 lakh families in 6,500 villages were badly affected. Around 131 people were killed and scores others injured in the state, he added.

Dr Reddy stressed the need to take up construction of bunds along Godavari and other rivers at the cost of Rs 1,000 crore.

Earlier, addressing the Chief Ministers meeting, he said the state faced problems of Naxalism. Telangana armed struggle and the People's War and Maoist forces had made inroads into interior areas of the state, he added.

He said the Congress government was tackling the issue with socio-economic strategy by undertaking a targeted developmental activity in affected areas. He said the government had undertaken projects worth Rs 45,000 crore to be completed during the next five years.

Dr Reddy also outlined the state's rehabilitation policy which has been framed with a view to win over and assimilate the misguided Naxals into the mainstream.

''The state has also taken measures to strengthen the police forces by offering them several fiscal incentives. The government was paying an ex-gratia to the victims of Naxal attacks which not only covers elected representatives but also common man,'' he said adding Andhra Pradesh requires at least two battalions of Central Para Military Forces to fight the menace of Naxalism.

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