Amid ensuring development in the State and penetration of welfare schemes to the grassroots levels, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu has to cover all regions.
Besides focussing on the capital city of Amaravati, he is striving for decentralised development. Interlinking of rivers tops his priority to make Andhra Pradesh a drought-proof State.
After the success of linking the Krishna and the Godavari, the Chief Minister is working on dry-spell mitigation through rain guns, drip irrigation and construction of 10 lakh farm ponds across the State.
Mr. Naidu is working on making Andhra Pradesh into a hub for manufacturing, export, software and hardware industries.
“China achieved growth by focussing on the manufacturing sector and exporting the produce. Comparatively, we could not take such an opportunity. India has an advantage in terms of labour cost compared with China. It’s a huge opportunity for our State now,” he told The Hindu .
Mr. Naidu plans to transform the Rayalaseema region into a horticulture hub besides promoting the agro-processing industry. Coastal Andhra Pradesh will be developed into a manufacturing and export hub, making optimum use of the resources available.
On the capital front, he exuded confidence on completing the Phase I construction by 2018. As a prelude to the ecosystem, he said a secretariat at Mangalagiri in the Amaravati region, with six lakh square feet space, is being constructed with a pre-cast structure. The plan is to complete the project by June 2016. This would enable shifting the administration from Hyderabad to Amaravati.
‘Open to suggestions’Making light of the Opposition’s allegations, Mr. Naidu said he was open to constructive and positive suggestions. “Opposition has been opposing different development works like Pattiseema, Bhogapuram airport and Amaravati. And yet, they are day-dreaming of coming into power,” he said.
