VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) State President Palla Srinivasa Rao has urged party members to treat the coalition government’s flagship welfare initiative Pedala Sevalo (In Service of the Poor) as a festival.
Addressing party functionaries through a teleconference on Sunday, Rao reviewed preparations for the NTR Bharosa pension distribution programme scheduled across Andhra Pradesh on June 1 , along with the party’s upcoming calendar of organisational meetings. He highlighted that within two years of the coalition government assuming office, Rs 66,000 crore had been spent on the pension scheme.
Under NTR Bharosa, pensions are extended to more than 62.7 lakh beneficiaries every month at a cost of Rs 2,728 crore. Rao said no other state government in the country was spending such a large amount exclusively on pensions for the poor.
He called on ministers and grassroots leaders to join Secretariat staff in visiting beneficiaries’ homes to ensure pensions are delivered directly. Rao also announced that regular “Calendar Meetings” would be held every Wednesday at different organisational levels to strengthen the party structure, with issues raised at lower levels discussed at higher forums and resolutions adopted at the State General Body meeting once every three months.
Rao urged party leaders and workers to effectively communicate the coalition government’s welfare and development agenda to the public and to make the June 1 pension distribution programme a grand success.