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Hyderabad, Oct 16 (IANS) The Telangana government on Thursday decided to scrap the two-child rule to contest local body elections in the state.
The decision was taken at the state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
Information and Public Relations Minister P. Srinivas Reddy told media persons that the Cabinet has approved the removal of the rule that bars people with more than two children from contesting elections.
He said that the government has received many representations to abolish the two-child rule. Opinion has been expressed that there is no need to implement this rule when population control is being strictly implemented in the state.
Under existing laws, persons with more than two children are not eligible to contest elections for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC), Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC), ward members and sarpanches.
The state cabinet also decided to expedite the Hyderabad Metro Rail expansion process. In this, the issue of acquiring the first phase of Metro from L&T was discussed in detail. The government decided to take over the first phase, being run in public-private partnership mode, as it had become a hindrance in the expansion of the metro under Phases 2A and 2B.
The Cabinet decided to constitute a high level committee of officers to study in depth all the issues and feasibility of taking over Metro Rail from L&T.
The Chief Secretary will be the chairman of the committee, which will have the Principal Secretary of the Finance Department, Secretary of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD), Law Secretary, Metro Rail MD and Urban Transport Advisor as members.
The Committee of Officers will submit its report to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Resource Mobilization. Based on the recommendations of the Cabinet sub-committee, the Cabinet will take the final decision on taking over the Metro from L&T.
The Cabinet decided to take all steps to procure the entire paddy crop this monsoon season. It said the state produced a record 14.8 million tonnes of food grains. civil
The supply department estimates that 80 lakh metric tonnes of paddy will reach the purchasing centers of the state.
The central government has agreed to purchase 50 lakh tonnes. The state government has requested it to purchase 15-20 lakh tonnes more.
Srinivas Reddy said, despite financial problems and other challenges, the government will procure every grain cultivated during the season.
It was also decided to immediately deposit Rs. Bonus of Rs 500 per quintal for good variety of paddy with Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the account of farmers.
The state cabinet has decided to establish three new agriculture colleges in the state. These colleges will open in Huzurnagar, Kodangal and Nizamabad.
The Cabinet decided to constitute a sub-committee to prepare a plan to organize celebrations to mark the completion of two years of the government. The festival will be held from 1 to 9 December.
The Cabinet approved proposals to allot additional seven acres of land to NALSAR University of Law at its existing campus in Hyderabad. The cabinet also decided to increase the seat quota for locals from 25 percent to 50 percent.
The Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Roads and Buildings Department to issue tender at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore for the construction of roads of total length of 5,566 km. 10,547 crore under Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM).
The project involves construction, upgrading and maintenance of roads connecting Gram Panchayats (GP) to Divisional Headquarters, Divisional Headquarters to District Headquarters and District Headquarters to State Headquarters.
The state cabinet has passed a resolution agreeing to bear the cost of Rs. Rs 438 crore for acquisition of 845 hectares of land for construction of Krishna-Vikarabad broad gauge railway line.
The Cabinet decided to allocate 435.08 acres of land to the Defense Department as an alternative to the defense land to be transferred to the State Government for the construction of elevated corridor from Paradise Junction to Shamirpet ORR and Paradise Junction to Dairy Farm Road in Greater Hyderabad.
The Cabinet has passed a resolution agreeing that the state government will bear one-third of the total cost (Rs 7,500 crore) for the construction of the Mannanur-Srisailam elevated corridor over the reserved urban forest. The 75 km long elevated corridor will be jointly constructed by the state and central governments.
–IANS
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