Calling upon the people of the State to make a visit to the sites of capital city Amaravati and major irrigation project Polavaram at least once, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Thursday that it would be a moment of pride to witness the massive constructions of the generation during the works in progress.
“We haven’t seen the construction of Nagarjuna Sagar, for that matter any major project, in our lifetime. Now, we got a chance to witness the building of both Amaravati and Polavaram, which would provide a special place for Andhra Pradesh in the world map,” Mr. Naidu said addressing a public meeting, titled ‘Maha Sankalpam,’ the valedictory of the week-long Nava Nirmana Deeksha, here.
The vision
Mr. Naidu said despite paucity of funds, there was no dearth of knowledge and that his vision was to make Andhra Pradesh the richest State by making optimum use of available resources.
“The Polavaram project will help the State become draught-free. Amaravati will make the world know about the Telugu pride,” he said, adding that the State would attract investments of ₹16 lakh crore, generating about six lakh new jobs.
Pat for mountaineers
Introducing the 14 youngsters from the State who had scaled the Mount Everest to the audience, Mr. Naidu said all of them were from Social Welfare Residential hostels and the government would present them a prize money of ₹10 lakh each.
“These youngsters have proved that one could achieve anything with strong will, dedication, and determination. Their poor financial background did not deter them from scaling the highest peak. We must draw inspiration from these youngsters and work hard to realise our dreams,” he said.
Declaring that the ‘Deepam’ scheme had reached saturation point, he said the State government had provided 26.35 lakh cooking gas connections at a highly subsidised price to women from the urban and rural areas. During his hour-long address, Mr. Naidu touched upon various issues, from the division of the State to the circumstances that prompted the government to accept the special package instead of the Special Category Status. He gave a detailed account of various welfare schemes being implemented in the State and called upon the people to continue to support him and his government.
Kakinada city MLA Vanamadi Venkateswara Rao presided over the meeting. Ministers N. Chinarajappa, K. Kala Venkata Rao, and P. Pulla Rao, Collector Kartikeya Misra, MPs, MLAs, and officials were present.
