Hyderabad: “From being a state with a precarious law and order situation and mounting debt of Rs 9,000 crore per annum, Andhra Pradesh has now emerged as the best state in governance,” said Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
He was addressing the gathering after receiving the award for “best performing state in governance” at the India Today “State of the States” conclave held recently in New Delhi. “All this has been possible because we have a team of dedicated and committed officials,” said the Chief Minister.
The awards are based on an objective data surveyed for the years 2011-12 and 2012-13. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who completed three years in office on November 24, has established himself as a consistent performer. “He has finetuned the existing welfare schemes and introduced new ones to make a mark in the office,” said a press release.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister launched a state-wide area network through which the state capital became connected to all the 23 district headquarters and 1,126 mandal headquarters by a video-conferencing facility.
“It will ease the administration by letting Hyderabad-based officials discuss views on development with other officials. It also makes Andhra Pradesh the first state in the country to have the HD video link,” the release said.
According to the organisers, the study is 100 per cent based on performance data. “That is why it has, if I may say so, such high credibility,” claimed Arun Poorie, editor-in-chief, India Today Gr-oup. The Chief Minister said that effective financial management helped the state facilitate interest free loans of '16,000 crore to women self-help groups.
Reddy claimed that 1,52,974 vacancies in government jobs were notified. A majority of the appointments were in the police department. The Mee Seva programme was another achievement that caught the organiser’s attention.
Two years ago, the Chief Minister unveiled fast-track delivery of public services through a single window, with 12 services. Today, 225 services are provided through the citizen-centric online service.
Also, Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu, through which youths were provided job-related training and placed in the private sector in the last three years, made a mark. “Our goal is to take the total to 15,00,000 jobs in the next three years,” Reddy said.
Union rural development minister, Jairam Ramesh, said the challenge was to embed a positive attitude to governance so that states deliver in a responsible manner.
