VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh will be the first State in the country to introduce delivery of citizen services through WhatsApp, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced on Tuesday. Addressing a gathering at the Collectors’ Conference held at the Secretariat, Naidu noted, “Services provided on WhatsApp should be user-friendly. Whenever new technologies are used, there will be some problems. We should resolve them and move forward.”
Officials informed Naidu that citizens will soon be able to raise grievances via WhatsApp. Even if complainants cannot type their grievance, they can send a voice message instead, they explained.
IT and RTG (Real Time Governance) Minister Nara Lokesh pointed out that any certificate can be easily received through WhatsApp without political recommendations. He highlighted that the United Arab Emirates is the only country where citizen services are delivered through WhatsApp.
The Chief Minister wants governance to be streamlined and 153 citizen services are being proposed to be delivered through WhatsApp, he said.
Naidu exhorted collectors to resolve grievances with a humane approach. Directing the officials to set a target of zero pendency, he said inspections will be conducted to check if complaints were being redressed.
Find effective solutions to people’s grievances, CM directs Dist Collectors
“As many as 1.29 lakh grievances have been recorded since July, with 90% accounting to Revenue, Police, Municipal, and Panchayat departments. If we solve them, we solve the problem of pendency,” Naidu added. He assured the officials that legal help and counselling will be provided to those raising grievances so that litigation comes down considerably.
Observing that satisfaction among the people was low despite the high percentage of grievance redressal, the Chief Minister remarked, “This means that you (bureaucrats) are attempting, but are not giving public the right solution. This mismatch could lead to mistrust.
‘Change visible in State’
Asserting that ‘people first’ is the motto of the TDP-led NDA government, and ‘Health, Wealth, Happiness’ is its slogan, Naidu reiterated that the legislators are servants of people and not feudal lords.
Emphasising that the State has witnessed change in the past six months since the new government took charge, he noted, “From the first collectors’ conference to the second one today, change is visible. Darkness had pervaded. But today, rays of light have started penetrating through the darkness.”
Underscoring the need for hard work, he said, “I believe that every crisis is an opportunity. How we overcome it is a matter of leadership.”
Stating that the Indian Constitution has given people the right to vote, saving the nation from turbulence witnessed in Syria and Bangladesh, Naidu remarked, “In India, people’s vote is the weapon to bring change.”
Stressing that the State has embarked on the path to recovery, the Chief Minister pointed out that his government was able to pay salaries and pensions in time and streamline the defunct departments, despite the legacy of Rs 10 lakh crore debt inherited from the previous YSRCP regime.
“District Collectors play a crucial role in bringing everything on to the right track. Collectors and other senior officials should give top priority to our policies to implement P4 (Public-Private-People’s Partnership), ensure zero poverty, create jobs, promote population growth, conserve water, and improve agriculture and allied sectors with the slogan of ‘less investment and more profit’,” he said.
Alleging that anti-social activities such as land grabbing, liquor mafia, illegal sand mining, ganja cultivation, and smuggling of red sanders and PDS rice were at the peak under the previous administration, Naidu directed District Collectors to uproot all these evils. “Any person causing harm to the brand name of Andhra Pradesh should not be excused,” he instructed the officials and told them to work towards restoring the State’s credibility.
Rs 4 lakh crore investments to create four lakh jobs
On Speed of Doing Business, he called upon officers to be proactive, as investors have many options. “We are monitoring every collector. You need to prove yourselves. I have served as Chief Minister four times, but have never saw such problems,” he said, adding that district collectors must compete with one another so as to achieve expected results.
Elaborating on what the government has done in the past six months, Naidu said seven white papers have been published, 20 polices were released and a vision document will be unveiled to give a sense of way forward for the people. “Now, Rs 4 lakh crore investment has come, which will create four lakh jobs. Amaravati is back on track with Rs 31,000 crore finance mobilised. Additionally, the Centre is extending Rs 12,157 crore for the Polavaram Irrigation Project, which will be completed by 2027. We have set month-wise targets to achieve the target,” he explained.
Mega Parent-Teacher meeting every year
With regards to the Mega DSC, the Chief Minister stressed that new teachers must be ready to work by the time schools reopen for the next academic year. “We have decided that the Mega Parent-Teacher meeting will be an annual event,” he declared.
Announcing that the State government will unveil Vision-2047 document on December 13, he said transforming the State into a knowledge society will lead to progress, sustainable development, and people’s perception.
Further, he called on Collectors to find ways to reduce the cost of production in agriculture. He also outlined the need to reduce logistic costs from 14% to 8% -- which is the national average. The Chief Minister pointed out that a rise in GSDP would increase the State’s finances.
He also exhorted the officials to encourage adoption of electric vehicles, solar and wind energy solutions to achieve 100% clean villages.
Rationalisation of 1.23 lakh village/ward functionaries
Reviewing Grama and Ward Sachivalayams (GSWS), the Chief Minister called for the rationalisation of 1.23 lakh village and ward functionaries. He also urged officials to take up an exercise for issuing Aadhaar cards to 10 lakh children on a war-footing. When some of the Collectors complained about defunct machines, the Chief Minister assured them that the government would release Rs 20 crore for the same.
The Chief Minister also pointed out that linking of citizen information with banks must be done for effective distribution of benefits and compensation. “After the Budameru deluge, we had problems transferring compensation to many citizens,” he said. It was decided that the issue will be taken up with bankers during the SLBC (State Level Bankers’ Committee) meeting and seek information on bank accounts only to transfer government benefits.
CM sets 50% growth target for Vision-2047
Naidu said the growth rate target in Vision Andhra-2047 document has been set at 50% and directed all Collectors to strive for the same through innovative thinking, planning and execution. Noting that the current GSDP is less than $3,000, the Chief Minister said this should go up to $42,000 in another 23 years as formulated in the Vision Document.
Mentioning that the GDDP (Gross District Domestic Product) of Visakhapatnam in 2022-23 stood at Rs 1,19,268 crore, he felt that the industry and service sector will play a crucial role in achieving the target of Rs 2,64,781 by 2028-29. The current GDDP of Tirupati is Rs 67,487 crore and it is estimated to reach Rs 1,69,469 crore as it has several logistic opportunities, considering its proximity to Krishnapatnam, Sri City, Nellore, and Chennai, he noted.
Stating that Anantapur, Kurnool, and Kadapa were once considered the most backward, he said these districts have now been developed because horticulture crops have been encouraged. “However, East Godavari, which was once considered the most developed district, has now turned into a backward area as there are no industries and no development in the service sector,” he added.