Centre is keen to amend the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to increase the number of assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as sought by both the Telugu states, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said today.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Home Minister Rajnath Singh here, Naidu said, "Home Ministry will now write to Law Ministry which in turn will get the opinion of Attorney General of India. The Central government is keen to amend the AP Reorganisation Act after getting the opinion of the Attorney General. I am confident that the people of Telugu states will soon hear the good news."
Naidu said both the states have written to the Centre seeking implementation of section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act, which calls for enhancement of number of legislative assembly seats of Andhra Pradesh from 175 to 225, and Telangana from 119 to 153.
He said after extensive deliberations with top officials of various ministries, "it was decided that AP Reorganisation Act may be amended suitably in order to increase the number of assembly seats in both the Telugu states.
To a question, Naidu sought to allay apprehension that
the government may miss the deadline of achieving the goal of making India ODF, saying the stated objectives of the Mission will "surely" be attained.
He said the Centre has managed to attain 35 per cent of the target of constructing individual household toilets during 40 per cent of the mission period, suggesting that implementation of the programme is on-track.
Buttressing his claim, Naidu said 22.97 lakh individual household toilets have been built in urban areas since the mission's launch as against the stated target of constructing 66.42 lakh toilets.
He said Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have already declared themselves as ODF in urban areas, while Kerala is going to make such announcement "very soon".
Naidu said that a total of 405 cities and towns have been declared by respective states as ODF. Nearly as many will be declared ODF by March next year, he added.
"During the first year of this mission, progress was slow but picked up momentum over the last one year. This was primarily on account of growing awareness among people about sanitation and spirit of competition among the states and urban local bodies further to ranking of cities based on sanitation levels," Naidu said.
The Minister observed that managing solid waste generated in country's urban areas was a "bigger challenge" and spoke about the government's focus on 'door-to-door' collection of refuse, its transportation and scientific processing to tackle the problem.
He said the government has plans afoot to manage 65 million of tonnes of solid waste generated in cities and towns and convert it into 50 lakh tonnes of compost and 400 MW of energy annually.
"To encourage these waste-to-wealth projects, the government has come out with policy initiatives like extending market assistance of Rs 1,500 per each tonne of compost produced and purchase of power generated from solid waste by the DISCOMS has been made mandatory," said the Minister.
He said, "Attitudes are changing certainly with rising awareness about sanitation and the implications of poor hygiene. These efforts need to be changed into a jan andolan as called for by the Prime Minister.
