VIJAYAWADA: Asking officials to ensure that there is no dearth of funds for the State government’s prestigious projects like Nadu-Nedu and others, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday directed them to go forward with meticulous planning and meet the deadlines.
He was speaking at a review meeting on the progress of Nadu-Nedu works, irrigation projects, water grid and infrastructure development programmes. The Chief Minister told the officials that there should not be dearth of funds for the government’s prestigious projects and they should go forward in a planned manner. He also asked the officials to see that fund flow meets the requirement.
Mana Badi Nadu-Nedu was taken up in over 15,000 schools in the first phase, with an estimated expenditure of Rs 3,600 crore and as of now Rs 920 crore was released. He told the officials to get clearances for the first phase funds by August 15. In the second and third phase, along with schools, works on hostels, junior and degree colleges would be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 7,700 crore, officials said.
On Nadu-Nedu programme in the health department, Jagan told officials to start the works for those projects, for which funds were allocated. For the establishment of 16 new medical colleges and one each super specialty hospital, cancer hospital and hospital for mental health, Rs 6,657 crore is needed. Developing the medical infrastructure in existing hospitals requires Rs 6,099 crore and Rs 1,236 crore is needed for Nadu-Nedu works in area and community hospitals.For the establishment of 11,197 village clinics, Rs 1,745 crore budget is estimated. Jagan told officials to pool funds for all these projects and start works at the earliest.
Irrigation works
It is estimated that Rs 98,000 is required for the irrigation sector, of which Rs 72,000 crore is for the construction of new projects. The Chief Minister directed the officials to start works of Rayalaseema drought prevention project from October 1. Along with this, drought prevention works in Palnadu and Sujala Srvanthi in North Andhra districts should be taken up.
The Chief Minister also reviewed the works of water-grid project, aimed at giving drinking water to all the districts. The first phase is estimated to cost Rs 19,088 crore. The officials said that 70 per cent of the works on road connectivity to remote areas was completed with a cost of Rs 4,456 crore. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is financing the project.Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh, the Chief Secretary and other officials were present.