Andhra Pradesh govt works for poor, says CM Naidu

 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday said that the TDP-led NDA government works for the poor, executes all programmes, so that they are not put into any trouble.

Addressing a village meeting at Cheyyeru in this district, the chief minister noted that over 64 lakh people in the state receive pensions akin to employees on the first day of every month.

"This government works for the poor. We are doing all the programmes to avoid any trouble for the poor," said Naidu, adding that the NDA government is a unique one in history to disbursing pensions. The state government has so far spent Rs 34,000 crore on welfare pensions, he added.

He said that the southern state gives welfare pensions more in terms of value and volume than richer states such as Maharashtra and Telangana.

Referring to the Deepam-2 scheme, which offers three free cooking gas cylinders to eligible beneficiaries, the CM noted that he will deposit money into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries once in four months to make it easy to avail the scheme.

Likewise, Naidu called on SC and ST communities to avail solar power scheme (PM Surya Ghar) to generate power on their rooftops and stand a chance of avoiding electricity bills completely, along with the possibility of selling excess power to the grid.

Under this scheme, the TDP supremo highlighted that SC and ST communities will get 100 per cent subsidy, BCs Rs 98,000 subsidy for 3 kw solar power system and Other Castes (OCs) Rs 78,000 subsidy.

Naidu tasked MLAs and officials to achieve the target of installing 10,000 solar power systems per constituency.

Further, the CM noted that 'Mega DSC' (District Selection Committee) notification has been issued for the recruitment of over 16,000 teachers.

Issuing a warning to marijuana and drug users and peddlers, the CM vowed that he would not spare them, underscoring that he set up a separate wing (Eagle) to nab them using drones.

Naidu reiterated his promise to implement 'Talliki Vandanam' (Rs 15,000 per annum for every school going child in a given family) before schools reopen for the 2025-26 academic year in June.

Similarly, he also reiterated the importance of population management, calling on people to have more children to avoid problems such as aging and facing a situation where there would be lower number of workers and higher number of pensioners.

When it comes to population, Naidu said South India is at a disadvantage when compared to North India.

The CM also promised to implement 'Annadata Sukhibhava' (Rs 20,000 financial aid to farmers per annum) in three installments soon.

Similarly, he also assured to start implementing free bus travel for women from August 15.

The CM observed that he is implementing his welfare promises one after the other as there are several problems.

Referring to Konaseema district, Naidu advised the local farmers to incorporate inter-cropping of cocoa or fodder grass in their 90,000 acres of coconut orchards to increase their income.

Moreover, Naidu said he wants to be the eldest son of every family in the state, and work towards creating wealth in Andhra Pradesh.