Amaravati: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has called for an overhaul of existing government business rules to improve governance, observing: “When the Constitution has been amended, what is wrong in changing the business rules to do good to people?”

Addressing a meeting of Ministers, secretaries and heads of departments at the Secretariat on Wednesday, the Chief Minister emphasised that the government must be willing to make sweeping changes for the public good. He directed officials to rescind unnecessary rules and implement comprehensive change management to ease governance.

Naidu directed all government departments to rev up their functioning to meet rising public expectations, while admonishing officials as well as elected representatives that they would be held accountable for any administrative lapses.

The Chief Minister called for extending efficient governance powered by technology and a data lake and directed an audit of all departments to assess efficiency. According to Naidu, the government possesses complete information of the performance of every officer and department. He advised them to be cognizant of this data and ensure that they work with accountability and are answerable to people.

The Chief Minister underlined that the government must not only avoid complaints from citizens but also work at a level where people themselves acknowledge improved governance. At the meeting, officials presented progress reports relating to their respective departments.

Naidu rued that high grievance volumes continued in revenue, police and municipal departments. He wanted the complaints to be resolved promptly.

The Chief Minister said public trust in governance had been improving and the departments must match that positive sentiment by delivering services efficiently. He stressed that technology, auditing, and behavioural reform among officials were essential to transform public perception within the next three months.

On public health, the Chief Minister issued a strict warning that no preventable outbreak should occur due to water-supply failures or sanitation deficiencies. He warned that officials would be held responsible for any such occurrences due to laxity. The government had built a data-lake system aggregating information from all departments and launched the Aware platform to provide reliable data on 42 service indicators. More than 800 citizen services were already operating through WhatsApp governance, he stated and instructed the departments to integrate the remaining 383 services to reach a total of 1,200.

Calling for a drastic reduction in administrative delays, Naidu said file disposal and court case clearance must be expedited across departments. He directed the Legal Department to adopt technological solutions to reduce pendency. Any mistake by an official or public representative, he said, would ultimately damage the government’s reputation.

The Chief Minister expressed his concern that several departments had failed to utilise nearly Rs 1,171 crore under centrally sponsored schemes, though their deadlines were expiring in December. He instructed the departments to spend the pending funds by December 20 and immediately send utilisation certificates to the Centre.

Noting that the NDA alliance government will not increase the power tariff this year, the Chief Minister said efforts are on to reduce power purchase price from Rs 4.92 to Rs 4 per unit.

He said his government has reestablished the brand image of Andhra Pradesh and attracted huge investments, citing the recent CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam as the best example. According to the TDP supremo, the southern state has achieved a growth rate of 12 per cent in the first quarter and 11.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2025-26 and set a target to achieve 17 per cent growth rate.

Reviewing the state’s financial position, the Chief Minister said that public money had been strained due to high-interest loans contracted by the previous government, damaging Andhra Pradesh’s financial credibility.

He said several corporations had borrowed at average annual rates of around 12 per cent, forcing the current administration to carry an unnecessary interest burden. Through loan rescheduling and negotiations, the government had already saved Rs 512 crore in the first year and expected the total savings to reach Rs 1,000 crore by March. In total, nearly Rs 7,000 crore could be saved by restructuring legacy borrowings, he said.

Naidu said Sustainable Development Goals would be reviewed every quarter, and departments must handle issues related to agriculture, prices, jobs, water supply and inflation more proactively. Preparations for summer drinking water management should begin immediately.