Andhra government likely to give priority to \'Navaratnas\' in budget

Amaravati: In the wake of Andhra Pradesh Assembly Budget Session to start from Thursday, State Assembly Speaker Tammineni Seetaram held a review meeting on Tuesday.

This is the first major assembly session after YSRCP government came to power.

This year, it is expected that the budget will be going to give top priority to 'Navaratnas', the nine major flagship programs assured by YSRCP during the election campaign.

Speaker Tammineni Seetaram held meetings with IAS officers and police officials separately.

In the first meeting, the speaker met Chief Secretary L V Subrahmanyam and secretaries of all departments. He advised the officials to make requisite arrangements for smooth conduct of the assembly session.

"There are 70 first time MLAs in the house. Let us work for conducting the assembly session with a realistic approach. We will provide equal opportunities to all members of the house. During assembly sessions in the tenure of the previous government, some subjects are not taken for discussion deliberately. Now the situation will be different," the Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker said.

"The session will be conducted in a manner that people will think that the session has fruitful discussions. Officials should be ready with answers for the questions by the members. Do not prepare the bills in hurry, the aims of government bills should be understood and then only the drafts should be placed before the house," he added.

He also held a review meeting with higher rank officials of the police department pertaining to safety and security. A command control room will be set up outside the premises of Assembly building for coordinating of security measures.

Seetaram has also ordered to restrict the number of visitors to the assembly citing security concerns. Besides, he also clarified that only a maximum of 500 visitors to be allowed to the assembly.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary L V Subrahmanyam handed over the responsibility to coordinate all departments on all draft bills and questions, to GAD secretary R P Sisodia. He opined that ten to twelve bills are likely to be introduced in the assembly during this budget session.