VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that the NDA government was able to restore the brand image of Andhra Pradesh within 18 months and had successfully attracted investments worth `21 lakh crore.
He said some people were criticising the government’s proposal to develop medical colleges under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. He clarified that under the programme, the number of medical seats would be increased and modern free healthcare facilities would be made available to the people. He asserted that the medical colleges would remain under the supervision of the State government.
Naidu also said that the NDA government would not increase power tariffs and stated that the coalition government had reduced the burden on Discoms and Transco by `11,320 crore.
On the second and final day of the Collectors’ Conference held at the State Secretariat on Thursday, Naidu said the State government had adopted a faster approach to delivering governance after successfully implementing ease of doing business and speed of doing business.
He made it clear that he would not confine himself to numbers in development programmes and would undertake surprise visits to districts to assess the ground reality.
He instructed that interference by political leaders should not be allowed in land disputes. He said files of all government departments and services should be made available online from Jan 15.
Naidu directed Collectors to introduce the ‘Mustabu’ programme, successfully implemented in tribal areas of Parvatipuram Manyam district, across the State.
He also asked them to replicate five other best practices presented during the conference.
The six best practices include Mustabu (a personal hygiene programme for tribal students in Parvatipuram Manyam), the foundation literacy and nutrition programme in ASR district, rehabilitation of ID liquor brewing families in Eluru district, the Champion Farmer programme in Nellore district, the Smart Kitchen programme in Kadapa district, and digitalisation of revenue records in Anantapur district.
Emphasising the need to improve groundwater levels, Naidu directed Collectors to focus more on water conservation and groundwater recharge. Special CS (Water Resources) G Saiprasad gave a PowerPoint presentation on water security and said top priority should be given to filling all 38,400 minor irrigation tanks.
The CM said the welfare calendar should be implemented from April and that all Central government funds should be fully utilised. When Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan pointed out that some political leaders were attempting to create disputes in land deals in the Visakha region, Naidu directed police officials to act firmly against such persons. He also instructed that pattadar passbooks be delivered through courier services and that family cards be distributed from the Ugadi festival.
The Chief Minister said that District Collectors should focus on speed of governance.