Ten years of Congress ‘misrule’ had slid back development and the new State of Andhra Pradesh had to be rebuilt in every sector. Unscientific bifurcation of the State had only deepened the crisis. “But we have to convert adversity into advantage and move ahead,” said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Addressing the first meeting of party MPs, MLAs, MLCs, local body chiefs here on Thursday, Mr. Naidu unveiled his vision to trigger development in the State. The action plan includes seven missions, five grids, three mega cities, seven temples, 14 ports and as many airports, bus stations and industrial cities. For every mission he would be the chairman and a minister vice-chairman while an IAS officer would act as the coordinator.
“The problems facing the State are only temporary setbacks. I have a grand vision to spur development,” Mr. Naidu said. In a two hour long power point presentation, he said the government would go into four campaign modes to achieve targets. They are: Pedarikam Pai Gelupu, Polam Pilustondi, Badi Pilustondi and Neeru-Chettu. In the next five years five grids would be established for water, road, power, gas and fibre optics. The 7 mission included primary, urban, industry, infrastructure, services, skill development and social empowerment.
Mr. Naidu elaborated on each of these points and said for every mission measurable indicators would be formed. In the coming years the service sector was going to be the biggest employment generator. In spite of the financial crisis facing the State, Andhra Pradesh had many strengths. It had abundant natural resources, fertile land, long sea coast, mineral wealth, natural gas, water resources, education and skilled human resources. Tamil Nadu and Gujarat had none of these yet both the States had marched ahead.
Tourism potentialMr. Naidu talked about tapping temple tourism and beach tourism to generate revenue. “We have the biggest temple at Tirupati and this should be utilised for promoting tourism,” he said.
He talked about integration of GIS and GPS to map everything and have information at the fingertips. He asked party workers to keep pace with technology as they would become irrelevant if they did not embrace it. Capacity building and skill upgradation was required for everyone. Turning to media persons, he asked them also to get tech savvy. “You should give up using pen and paper and instead go in for ipads,” he suggested.
Earlier, he recalled the problem faced by the new State and said institutions in Schedule 9 and 10 and IAS and IPS officers remained to be distributed between the two States. He hoped the Government of India would provide a level playing field to the Andhra Pradesh which had got a raw deal in the bifurcation.