VIJAYAWADA: Setting the tone for a corruption-free and transparent government that promises welfare and development on an equal scale, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that his government has taken many path-breaking decisions and will resolutely stick to its stand on them, brushing aside detractors’ insipid remarks.
In his Independence Day speech after unfurling the tricolour at the IGMS grounds in Vijayawada on Thursday, the CM said that his government will continue with its policies and defended the legislations that were recently enacted for reverse tendering and to provide reservation for jobs to locals.
In his one-hour long address, after reviewing the impressive parade, the Chief Minister listed out the path-breaking welfare schemes and legislations that his government had taken during its two-and-a-half months of governance.
The Chief Minister also launched his government's flagship programme Village Volunteers System that would take governance to the doorstep of the people by involving over 2.8 lakh village volunteers. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Reddy announced that the village secretariats would be launched from October 2 by making the volunteers a bridge between the government and the people. He said village secretariats would be set up in each village to deliver governance to people in 72 hours.
This scheme involves the provision of one volunteer to cover 50 families in each village. Identity cards would be given to the volunteers and they would be given an honorarium of Rs. 5,000 per month.
The volunteers would first identify the beneficiaries, get to know their problems and then delineate the schemes being provided by the government for them. The Chief Minister said that the scheme would be able to reach the poorest of the poor and make all the villages self-sufficient.
The Chief Minister said that the volunteers would evolve as leaders once they completed their term. A toll-free telephone number 1902 would be set up at the call centre in the CMO to receive the grievances of the people. The basic idea behind implementing the scheme was to infuse confidence among the people and to see that their basic needs were met.
The Chief Minister said the Navaratnas delineated by him in the party manifesto were prepared after he understood the problems of the people during his 3,648 km padayatra throughout the state.
He said YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme would be started from October 15 under which power would be provided to farmers free of cost and each farmer would get Rs. 12,500 per year for the next four years.
Speaking about Amma Vodi scheme which would be launched on January 26 next year, the Chief Minister said all mothers would be given Rs. 15,000 per year so that they can educate their children without any hassle.
Later, addressing the village volunteers at a function hall in the city, the Chief Minister said that the village volunteers' system was launched as the villages are backward even after 73 years of achieving independence. He said the volunteers would be trained to interact with the people by being fair and free.
