Will complete Polavaram before Pushkarams: CM

Unguturu (Eluru district): Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu has declared that the Polavaram Project will be completed before the 2027 Godavari Pushkarams. He assured people that the long-standing Kolleru issues would be resolved and the Chintalapudi Lift Irrigation Project completed.

Participating in the NTR Bharosa pension distribution programme at Gopinathapattnam in the Unguturu constituency on Monday, the Chief Minister said that the NDA government had spent Rs 50,763 crore on pensions over the last 18 months. No other state is spending so much money on pensions, he added.

Earlier, he visited the residence of Nagalakshmi, a kidney patient, handed over the pension amount to her personally, and inquired about her health. He then directed the officials to provide her better medical care.

Later, addressing a public meeting, the Chief Minister said that the state government was spending Rs 32,143 cr every year towards pension, which comes to around Rs 1.65 lakh crore in five years benefiting 63 lakh people. He said of the total pensioners 59 per cent were women beneficiaries.

The Chief Minister said that in order to safeguard the interests of farmers, the state government was propagating five principles to make farming profitable: water security, demand-based crops, agri-tech, food processing, and government support.

The Chief Minister said that, given the changing food habits the world over, farmers should adopt cultivation of demand-based crops. He said integrated farming must be encouraged and farmers should utilise technology to make agriculture profitable. He said the government was supplying electricity to aqua farmers at Rs 1.50 per unit and bearing Rs 850 crore expenditure for the development of aquaculture. The Chief Minister said payment for procured grain is being deposited into the farmers' accounts within 24–48 hours.

Mentioning that the region is suitable for crops like coconut, cocoa, and coffee, he stressed the need for food processing units in the region. The Chief Minister said, “as Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan often says, the alliance should remain in power for another 15 years”.

At the recent Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, the state government attracted investments of Rs 13.25 lakh crore, of which Rs 8 lakh crore has already been approved. He assured the creation of 20 lakh jobs by 2029. The setting up of Google's data center in Visakhapatnam reflects the investors' trust in the government. He said Job melas will be conducted once in every three months in each constituency. The Chief Minister said three regional zones are being established for AP’s development and Amaravati Phase 1 construction will be completed by 2028. Subsequently, in the public meeting, the Chief Minister congratulated the ‘golden families’ and ‘margadarshis’ related to the P4 programme. Earlier, the Chief Minister went around the stalls put up near the venue. Ministers Nadendla Manohar and Kolusu Parthasarathy, along with other public representatives, attended the programme.