VIJAYAWADA: With less than 10 days remaining for rolling out the new sand policy on September 5, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to ensure availability of sand at lower rates than the current prices. “Several forces are trying to defame the government out of jealousy after seeing government’s good work for people,’’ he said with an indirect reference to the criticism of Opposition parties.
During a review meeting on ‘Spandana, implementation of social welfare schemes, recruitment of village volunteers, Rythu Bharosa, sand policy, housing policy, sports and AgriGold with the officials at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Tuesday, Jagan said there was a need for increasing sand supply and reducing the rates. “The stockyards identified so far will have to be filled with sand from now onwards. Enhance the number of reaches wherever possible. We should implement the new sand policy effectively,’’ he stressed.
After officials informed that more reaches can be created with the recent floods, the Chief Minister directed them to avoid difficulties in transportation by involving more people. On Spandana, the Chief Minister directed the district collectors to create a mechanism to cope up with the increasing workload. “The district collectors should double-check the petitions rejected by the officials,” the Chief Minister said.
“Many Spandana petitions are regarding housing. It is a prestigious project to allocate houses on such a large scale and village volunteers should play a major role in identifying the beneficiaries. We will be allocating 25 lakh houses to the beneficiaries by Ugadi,” he said. The Chief Minister directed the officials to implement the schemes mentioned in the party manifesto from September to March 2020.
TDP protest against sand scarcity
Vijayawada: TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has said the TDP will stage protests across the State against sand scarcity on August 30. “Sand was supplied free of cost during the TDP regime. Now, the prices of sand are more than that of cement. YSRC MLAs, MPs and ministers are sharing the money earned through looting sand, he alleged. They are playing havoc with the lives of 20 lakh workers, he said.