ANANTAPUR:Raising his voice by a few more decibels, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday sought to exert pressure on the Centre for granting, among other things, special category status, railway zone and measures for bridging revenue deficit.
The chief minister’s voice carried loud and far as the occasion was the Independence Day organised for the first time at Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy Maidan in Anantapur district, the most backward district in the state. That the chief minister chose the Independence Day for putting forth his demands has come as surprise as he is known to plead and not confront the Centre on what is due to the state.
Naidu, after unfurling the national flag, pointed out that even the promised special package for the backward regions of Andhra Pradesh, as mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act had remained a pie in the sky.
“The state bifurcation was done in more unscientific and illogical manner. We were thrown out with no funds, and with debts. We were left with no capital, no resources. Though many promises were made in the Act and special category status was promised on the floor of the Parliament, nothing had happened even after two years. Even the promised separate railway zone is yet to materialise. Revenue deficit of the first year itself is yet to be adjusted and no funding is forthcoming for Polavaram Project though it was made national project,” he said expressing his dissatisfaction and dismay at the delay.
Naidu reiterated that there will be no compromise on getting what is due from the Centre and ensuring every promise made in the AP Reorganisation Act is kept. ‘’We will not step back, but continue to demand the Centre to give Andhra Pradesh what is rightfully it deserves. There will be no compromise when it comes to self respect of Andhras and we will see that there is no injustice done to the state,’’ he said.
Stating that despite problems and hurdles on the way, his government has succeeded in taking the state on the path of the development, the chief minister explained the various measure initiated including maintaining law and order in the state.
‘’There is no scarcity of natural resources and we are working with development of the state as our only agenda. Our immediate goal is to make the state one among the three top states in the country by 2022 and make it numero uno by 2029. By 2050, we want to ensure Andhra Pradesh is the best among the world,’’ he said and added the dream of every Andhraite to have world class capital will come true in form of Amaravati as per schedule.
Promising to come true on each and every promise made in the election manifesto of his party, Naidu said in two years they have achieved double digit growth and their immediate target is to ensure 15 per cent growth rate by the end of the current fiscal. He explained at length about farmers loan waiver and state standing top in implementation of NREGS. “Our goal is to make AP a happy state sans poverty,” he said.
Chief secretary SP Tucker, DGP N Sambasiva Rao, district incharge minister Kamineni Srinivas, district ministers Palle Raghunath Reddy, Paritala Sunita, district collector K Sasidhar and others were present.