Planning Commission's nod for drought mitigation project in AP

The Planning Commission has in principle approved the Rs 7,830 crore 'Anantha' drought mitigation project for Anantapuram district of Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has prepared the project report, which Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy submitted to the Planning Commission for approval in New Delhi yesterday, state Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy told reporters here today.
"Anantapuram is one of the perennially drought-hit districts in the state. The state government has been spending Rs 500 crore to Rs 600 crore annually on input subsidy alone, particularly for groundnut farmers.
The ICAR prepared the project to overcome the problem of drought by taking up micro irrigation, horticulture development and employment generation," the Finance Minister, who was also part of the discussions with the Planning Commission, said.

While approving the project "in principle", the Planning Commission assured the state government that necessary funds would be granted.
"The Planning Commission also assured us that it will try to secure funds from the Union Agriculture Ministry for the Project Anantha. The Commission will study the project in detail and submit its report to the state. In the meantime, it asked us to go ahead with the implementation," Ramanarayana Reddy added.
Director General of National Resources Management Institute A K Singh would supervise the implementation of Project Anantha.
The state government would like to implement similar project in other drought-prone districts like Mahbubnagar and Adilabad in the next phase, the Finance Minister said.