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Governor unveils Naidu's priorities

Shireen in Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh Governor C Rangarajan on Thursday unveiled the action plan of the Nara Chandrababu Naidu government over the next five years.

In his customary address to the first session of the 11th assembly, Dr Rangarajan said, "Poverty eradication, employment generation, empowerment of the people, human resource development, infrastructure creation, as well as balanced sectoral and regional growth through SMART governance form the basic approach of my government."

Listing out the priorities of the Telugu Desam Party government, the governor said that "in the next five years, safe drinking water will be provided to all the habitations having population of 200 or more, house-site pattas will be distributed to 2.5 million deserving poor in the next three years, 3.5 million houses will be constructed for the weaker sections at the rate of 700,000 per year, primary schools will be established within a radius of one km from every habitation, integrated child development facility will be made available to three million children, every habitation will be covered by pucca road and black-topped roads will be laid to all the villages having a population of over 1,000."

He said that "in the field of employment generation, large-scale employment opportunities will be created through self-help groups, by giving boost to agro-based industries, food processing, small-scale industries and tourism sectors in particular. A poverty eradication mission will be launched to develop four million families, currently below poverty line, by successfully implementing programmes like Mundadugu, Chaitanyam, Aadarana, Roshni and Cheyutha."

On the human resource development front, the government seeks to quickly bring down the population growth rate to 0.83 per cent per annum, to develop the state into a knowledge society with literacy rate of 83 per cent, to improve the quality of healthcare and establish a medical college in every district of the state.

Irrigation facilities for an additional 2.5 million acres will be provided to improve the economic condition of farmers. Towards improving the condition of farmers, a market intervention fund with Rs 1 billion will be created to ensure remunerative prices for farm products.

He said that "new programmes and policies are being formulated with time-bound action plans... Zero-based budgeting and rationalisation of tax structure are also in the offing. Already, 12 cabinet sub-committees have been formed to devise the road map ahead. The whole state will be inspired and stirred to action."

In pursuance of its policy of women empowerment, the state government has decided to set up women banks, extend largescale cooperation to self-help groups, provide cooking gas connections to poor families in rural and urban areas under the Deepam scheme and ensure free education for all girl students up to the post-graduate level.

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