Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Development `road map' ready

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI May 28. The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, today unveiled his Government's `road map' for the next one and a half years before the State goes to the polls in the normal course while presiding over the plenary session of the TDP's Mahanadu, which began yesterday.

He sat through the entire session lasting nearly eight hours when resolutions were moved and adopted on more than half a dozen core issues covering agriculture, irrigation, law and order, backward area development, health, social justice, tourism and culture, etc.

He listened patiently to the speeches by the movers of resolutions and finally took the mike to give a speech loaded with statistics highlighting what was done or how much money was spent and how much more was in the pipeline by the end of 2005.

Defending his pet programmes, Neeru-Meeru and Janmabhoomi, Mr. Naidu said that his Government had set a target for itself to implement watershed programme covering a whopping 1 crore hectares with a financial outlay of Rs.4000 crores. Enumerating the various developmental works proposed in the State covering various departments, he cited the Rs.13,499 crore project drawn up for the development of all backward areas in AP in the coming years, the plan under way to increase the installed capacity of the power sector to 3400 MW, extension of telemedicine to all centres in the State, identification of region-specific projects for all three regions to increase irrigation facility (14 projects in Rayalaseema with Rs. 62 cr. outlay, 37 M.I. projects in Telangana with Rs.114. crores, and eight projects in coastal AP with an outlay of Rs.62 cr).

He dwelt at length on irrigation and electricity-- the two contentious subjects, which the Opposition has been using to criticise him and listed with names the projects completed, sanctioned, under investigation and so on to silence his critics. He also cited in this context the Centre's decision to extend the `Accelerated Power Development and Performance Programme' with assistance to a tune of Rs. 608.6 crores `in appreciation of the performance of AP's Transco and Genco'.

On agriculture, he said notwithstanding the odds created by the continued drought and its impact on output, loan recovery, power bill constraints, etc, the Government has taken upon itself the responsibility of preparing itself to face the WTO regime through increased productivity. He spoke of more cold storages and cold-chain facility in the coming days to promote agro-based industry and save farmers from distress sale. He said that immediately after the plenum, the State Cabinet would meet and hammer out a special package for revival of agriculture.

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