Eagle eye on drug menace

Vijayawada : The state cabinet, which met here on Wednesday decided to make Andhra Pradesh a ganja-free state. It has sounded a strong warning that drug peddling will be with severe action with the creation of a special task force called EAGLE. This new task force will be on par with the anti-narcotics wing.

While drones would be used to identify ganja cultivation areas, the EAGLE wing will keep an eye on drug pedalling. According to the CMO, the name EAGLE was suggested by Naidu. The cabinet also approved the decisions of the State Investment Promotion Board for receiving investments to the tune of Rs 85,000 crore to promote industries. It adopted a new tourism and sports policy and decided to give industry status to Tourism. Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan suggested that rural sports be encouraged and the cabinet agreed to incorporate it in the policy.

In order to prevent crimes and maintain law and order, the cabinet gave approval for the PD Act amendment bill. This bill may be presented in the Assembly during the ongoing session.

The cabinet also approved for Lokayukta Act amendment bill and discussed what should be done if there was no leader of opposition in selecting the name for appointment of Lokayukta. It was felt that they should go by the Lokpal and Lokayukta (Amendment) Act 2016 passed by the Parliament where if there was no LoP the available members of the selection committee could recommend the name of Lokayukta.

The cabinet also gave its nod to the proposal to set up the High Court bench in Kurnool, merge AP Towers Corporation into AP Fiber Grid Corporation, reduce the no confidence motion period from four years to two years and gave approval for the Panchayat Raj amendment bill . The cabinet also decided to provide membership to two MLAs in temple trust boards.

Regarding the Amaravati capital city, the cabinet accepted the technical committee report and decided to call for fresh tenders to take up the works.