Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday has approved the repeal of the AP Land Titling Act. It also approved a free sand policy and ratified taking a Rs 2,000 crore loan for the civil supplies department.
Information minister Kolusu Parthasarathy gave details of the Cabinet decisions to the media. The Cabinet meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu.
The minister explained that, according to the Land Titling Act framed by Niti Aayog, the authority should be a government official. But the previous state government made changes to allow people who have no qualifications to sit on it.
“Under this Act, the involvement of civil courts is completely avoided. If a problem arises, one has to approach the High Court directly for costs. If this law came into force, the existing system of registration, revenue system and judicial system would have disappeared. Hence, the state Cabinet decided to repeal it,” he said.
On the free sand policy, the Cabinet approved GO MS 43 issued on 8.7.2024 to repeal the Sand and Mines Policy - 2019 and the Better Sand Policy -2021 and set up an interim system to provide free sand to the people without revenue to the government. This is till the Free Sand Mechanism -2024 is set up.
The Cabinet approved the issuing of orders to the commissioner of mines and geology to suspend the contracts with the respective companies and hand over the stock of sand to the authorities concerned.
“There is a need to formulate a comprehensive sand policy -2024 in the interest of the environment, taking into consideration the opinions of the users and as per the guidelines given by the Supreme Court, the High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Parthasarathy said the Cabinet gave its nod for a proposal of the state civil supplies corporation to avail a loan of Rs 2,000 crore from commercial banks and other financial institutions for the paddy procurement process for the year 2024-25.
The state consumer affairs, food and civil supplies department issued GO MS 6 seeking a state government assurance for the loans. The Cabinet approved the proposals.
The ministers approved the proposal made by the agriculture and cooperatives department, seeking the guarantee of the state government to obtain a fresh loan of `3,200 crore from the National Cooperative Development Corporation, as working capital assistance to AP Mark Fed, for procurement of paddy for the year 2024-25.
The Cabinet decided to appoint a committee with three ministers to study and recommend an easy process for hassle-free paddy procurement. The panel would submit its report in a month’s time.
The Chief Minister said the state required a new system for providing easy loans to tenant farmers. He asked the Cabinet to study this issue.
