VIJAYAWADA : Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday said his government has been providing pensions to over 66 lakh beneficiaries by spending over Rs 2,000 crore a month without any scope for corruption and discrimination based on caste, religion and political affiliation.
“Before the election, people will come up with a manifesto promising good governance. But the manifesto would be thrown in the dustbin once the elections are over. However, I am not the person who makes false promises like Naidu and his alliance partners. If we promise something, it will be executed,” asserted Jagan.
During an interaction with beneficiaries near Venkatachalam Palli in Darsi on Monday morning as part of his high-profile Memantha Siddham Yatra which completed 10 days, the Chief Minister explained the difference between the current YSRC government and the previous TDP regime in disbursing the pensions.
“In the TDP regime, only 39 lakh beneficiaries received Rs 1,000 as pension, but two months before the election they enhanced it to Rs 2,000, but now we have not only increased the amount to Rs 3,000 but extended it to 66.34 lakh eligible beneficiaries,” said Jagan.
Reiterating that the YSRC government has been spending Rs 24,000 crore per year and spent over Rs 90,000 crore in the last five years on pensions, the YSRC supremo said that the government spent higher than the other States in the country. “If we look at other states on their pension expenditure, Bihar is spending Rs 4,300 crore per year, Uttar Pradesh Rs 5,160 crore, Karnataka Rs 4,700 crore, Telangana Rs 7,180 crore,” said the Chief Minister.
Backing the volunteer system stating that the YSRC government’s initiative has been delivering welfare schemes to the doorsteps of beneficiaries, Jagan lambasted TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu saying that he, who often claims to be chief minister for 14 years, has never thought about people.
Claiming that there is no State in the country that can compete with his government in terms of providing welfare schemes to the poor, Jagan said, “The expenditure of Naidu’s promises is exceeding Rs 1.4 lakh crore on top of the current ongoing welfare measures in State. They are giving such assurances to deceive everyone like what they did before the 2014 elections.”