Hyderabad: Post the bifurcation, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has once again set out to accomplish what he had done while he was the CM of the undivided state.
The opposition YSRC and the Congress, had said that waiver of crop loans was impossible. But the CM proved them wrong. The TD government is implementing the crop loan waiver scheme despite the state exchequer suffering a Rs 19,000 crore deficit. The 14th Finance Commission, meanwhile, has said that AP will continue to be a revenue deficit state even after the 2019-20 financial year.
Though there is criticism from YSRC and Congress that not all eligible farmers are being covered under the crop loan redemption scheme, Mr Naidu and his team successfully implemented the first two phases of the TD’s crucial poll promise.
Over Rs 7,000 crore has already been spent so far, benefitting over 34 lakh farmer families. In all, over '40,000 crore welfare schemes are being implemented in the state as on date.
Despite numerous challenges, the TD’s first year in office after the bifurcation has been one of success, victory and satisfaction in terms of people’s welfare. The government’s achievements include implementing the DWCRA (women self help groups) loan waiver by releasing Rs 2,666 crore, increasing social security pensions by five times ( costing Rs 5,600 crore to the state exchequer), 24-hour power supply to the industry and domestic sector, getting seven mandals of Khammam district transferred to AP and national project status for the Polavaram project.
It also selected a central location for the capital city with micro and macro master plans prepared by the Singapore government for development of a world-class capital city. One of its biggest achievements was pooling over 33,500 acre of land from farmers for the capital city. Mr Naidu had announced at the Mahanadu, “The TD government will fulfill every promise it made. Go out courageously and tell the people that TD has turned the impossible possible by implementing the crop loan waiver. Even the Reserve Bank of India, including other banks, refused to help. The Central government said it could not do anything as other states too would demand the same. But I was committed to waive crop loans as I had seen farmers suffering during my padayatra.”
Despite a precarious financial status, Mr Naidu doled out welfare schemes one after the other. If 43 per cent fitment was given to state government employees, another 43 per cent fitment was later extended to APSRTC employees. Mr Naidu’s government dealt with red sanders smugglers with an iron hand.
The government also successfully crushed the sand and liquor mafia. Sand reaches were given to women SHGs who have earned over Rs 550 crore so far, 75 per cent of which will come to the government exchequer and 25 per cent given back for development of the SHGs.
Mr Naidu’s government created a record of sorts with the entire Cabinet and almost the entire official machinery shifting base to Visakhapatnam from Hyderabad when Cyclone Hudhud hit four of the 13 districts of the state. He returned only after normalcy was restored. Mr Naidu has also successfully projected Andhra Pradesh as a preferable investment destination.
Investments raining on AP:
Several foreign industrialists had assured Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Mr Chandrababu Naidu that they would to invest in the state. In the last year, Mr Naidu has twice visited Singapore, China, Japan and Davos where he met several prominent industrialists and highlighted the investment opportunities in the state. It now remains to be seen whether the assurances given by these industrialists will be kept.
Mr Naidu has said that his aim is to attract Rs 12,000 crore investment in the IT sector and Rs 30,000 crore in electronics. The government signed Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) with 29 companies during the CM’s foreign visits. Some of the MOUs are Government-to-Business (G2B) and some are Business-to-Business (B2B). In addition to these, some important foreign companies had also expressed interest to invest in the state.
