The State Cabinet, which met at the Secretariat on Saturday, gave the green signal to increase the procurement cost of liquor and decided to raise ₹3,000 crore from the open market for irrigation projects.
The Cabinet cleared an increase in the basic rate of procurement of the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) comprising Ready-to-Drink (RTD) products and wine by 3% per case of ₹400 (basic rate) to ₹450 and by 9% on cases costing over ₹450 a piece.
This is going to result in a rise in the prices. The basic rate of cases costing below ₹400 had not been touched. The Justice Ramanujam Committee on tenders constituted by the A.P. Beverages Corporation recommended an increase of 4% and 12% respectively.
This apart, the Cabinet cleared the decks for the A.P. Water Resources Development Corporation to raise ₹3,000 crore from the open market for the irrigation projects being implemented by it, with the State government standing as the guarantor.
It constituted a committee to inquire into the affairs of unrecognised agriculture colleges and take action against them and cleared the A.P. Industrial Corridor Development Bill-2017 aimed at facilitating the development of the Visakhapatnam-Chennai and the Chennai-Bengaluru corridors, for seeking the approval of the Legislative Assembly in its coming session.
The Cabinet approved the proposed conversion of the Kakinada SEZ Private Limited’s captive port at Kona village in Tondangi mandal of East Godavari district into a commercial port and ordered the Director of Ports to issue a Request for Quotation for implementing the project.
It approved the amendment to the A.P. Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 1987 to enhance the value of the advocates and advocate clerks’ welfare fund stamps from ₹50 to ₹100, of which ₹84 would go to the advocates and the balance to the clerks.
The Cabinet cleared the allotment of 110 acres at the rate of ₹4 lakh per acre to MIDHANI (Misra Dhatu Nigam Limited)’s aluminium alloy manufacturing plant at Bodduvaripalem in Kodavalur mandal of Nellore district. An investment of ₹3,982 crore was envisaged in that facility over two phases.
It had been decided to fund the infrastructure being created for the KIA Motors’ manufacturing plant in Anantapur district and pay off the incentives for it, out of the ₹2,000-crore loan raised by the A.P. Industrial Infrastructure Corporation towards the cost of land acquisition.
The Cabinet decided to implement the Career Advancement Scheme for the faculty members of the medical and dental colleges like the neighbouring States.
The Cabinet agreed to buy 837.2 Megawatts of renewable energies from Suzlon Energy Limited and Axis Ventures India Limited during 2017-18 at rates to be fixed by the A.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission.
It entrusted the development of the Public Private Partnership-no frills airport at Dagadarthi in Nellore district to the SPL Turbo Consortium at an estimated cost of ₹370 crore in about 1,350 acres.
The Cabinet also resolved to keep the primary health centres in the Agency areas open round-the-clock to tackle the seasonal epidemics which were taking a heavy toll. It had been decided to organise Yeruvaka, Jalasiriki Harati and Vanam-Manam programmes every year.