Ongole (AP): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced sops to the granite industry including the implementation of a slab system in a bid to boost the industry. The Chief Minister unveiled the bronze statues of his father, former Chief Minister Y S Rajashekar Reddy, and former Darsi MLA Buchepalli Subba Reddy at Chimakurthy in AP here on Wednesday.
Addressing a meeting on the occasion, the Chief Minister announced that a slab system would be implemented to boost the granite industry, where Rs 27,000 would be provided each month to Single-blade processing units and Rs 54,000 per month for Multi-blade processing units in Prakasam District which purifies raw granite up to 22 cubic meters.
For the processing units in Srikakulam and Rayalaseema regions, Rs 22,000 and Rs 44,000 would be given for Single and Multi-blade granite processing units, he announced. The Chief Minister said that the government had already issued a GO in this regard aiming to benefit over 7,000 units, as promised during padayatra.
He said that the slab system was brought during the YSR rule, but Chandrababu Naidu had withdrawn the initiative in 2016 pushing the units into danger. Besides this, the Chief Minister also announced to reduce Rs 2 per unit in power bills to small granite units, from the existing tariff of Rs 6.3 and Rs 6.7 per unit.
With both slab system and reduction in power bills, an amount of Rs 350 crore will be borne by the State government every year. Speaking of the Veligonda Project, he said that the then Chief Minister YS Rajashekar Reddy had initiated the project and completed 11.58 km works of the first tunnel which is at a stretch of 18.8 km, and completed 8.74 km of the second tunnel which is a 118.78 km stretch.
“I will go to elections only after inaugurating the Veligonda Project,” he mentioned.
Jagan Mohan Reddy also promised to grant Rs 20 crore for the construction of a new Zilla Parishad building in Chimakurthy and making Mogigundla pond in Thullur Mandal a mini reservoir and naming it after Buchepalli Subba Reddy Reservoir.
