PITHAPURAM (KAKINADA): Reiterating his commitment to fulfil 100% of the assurances given to the people during elections, Deputy Chief Minister (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Rural Water Supply, Environment, Forest, Science and Technology) Pawan Kalyan has said his immediate goal is to provide protected drinking water to all the villages in the State, and put it on the top of the list of the States implementing the drinking water scheme in the country.
Pawan Kalyan commenced his three-day tour of his home constituency Pithapuram on Monday, and disbursed social security pensions under the NTR Bharosa scheme at Gollaprolu.
Speaking on the occasion, Pawan Kalyan said after seeing the debt burden of the Panchayat Raj department due to misuse of funds, he asked officials not to pay him salary. He said he even refused furniture for his camp office stating that he would buy it on his own. “I am astounded by what the officials are revealing during the in-depth meetings on Panchayat Raj and Rural Development. Even for small repairs, high prices were quoted. Many lapses occurred in the department during the previous regime. My goal is to rejuvenate the department systematically,” he said.
Making it clear that he did not come into politics for money or position, but to serve the people in the truest sense, Pawan Kalyan said from his side there will not be any scope for corruption. He asked for the audit of industrial pollution to protect the environment. Non-pollution industries will be encouraged in a big way to promote growth, he said. Earlier, he handed over a cheque for the social security pension to a differently abled beneficiary named Medisetty Nagamani.
Expressing gratitude to the people of Pithapuram for electing him as their representative with an overwhelming majority, Pawan Kalyan said he will remember it lifelong, and strive for the comprehensive development of the constituency.
“When I won the election, I was advised to take a huge victory rally. However, I thought I should come to Pithapuram with something that will benefit the people of the constituency, and today I came here to disburse the enhanced pension. For me, meetings and victory rallies are not important, but the happiness of the people of Pithapuram is very important,” he said and added that he wants to get close to people by ensuring supply of protected drinking water, creating job opportunities for the youth, and making canals clear of silt.
The Jana Sena chief lashed out at the previous YSRC regime for wasting `600 crore of taxpayers’money on constructing palaces on Rushikonda, and those buildings are lying idle now. “The amount that could have been used for the development of the entire district was wasted in such a manner,” he deplored.
Pawan Kalyan pointed out that the successful disbursement of social security pensions with secretariat staff proved that it could be done without village/ward volunteers. Expressing dismay over the large scale irregularities in the Civil Supplies Department in Kakinada, he said the guilty should be punished.