Anakapalli: The Andhra Pradesh government is committed to making the state plastic-free by June 2026, Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday.

Taking part in the ‘Swachh Andhra Swarna Andhra’ programme at Tallapalem village in Anakapalli on Saturday, the Chief Minister underscored the crucial role of public involvement and green ambassadors in executing Swachh Andhra initiatives successfully.

Highlighting the importance of creating wealth from waste and encouraging people to work towards this direction, Naidu flagged off newly introduced ‘Swachh Rathas’, unveiled the plaques and laid foundation stones for a faecal sludge treatment plant, a Gobardan plant and a greywater treatment plant and a plastic recycling plant initiated at Rs 68.25 crore.

Naidu mentioned that Anakapalli district alone attracted investments worth Rs 2.89 lakh crore with a potential to generate 1.75 lakh jobs in future. These investments will transform the district into a major industrial hub, he added. According to Naidu, Various industries will come up in 24,843 acres of land in areas such as Rambilli, Pudi, Nakkapalli, Makavarapalem and Valluru in the district.

The Chief Minister further said: “Anakapalli is considered as the second largest jaggery market in the country. If the focus shifts to producing organic jaggery, it would certainly attract a global market,” Naidu stressed, directing the MLAs and Collector to consider concrete steps to make it a reality.

Talking about the growing popularity of Araku coffee, Naidu said it was once less known to the world but today it has reached the global market.

“Chairman of Mahindra Group Anand Mahindra took to ‘X’, appreciating the Araku coffee of Nanolot Series and the premium coffee is priced at Rs 10,000 a kg,” the CM said.

Further, the Chief Minister assured that Anakapalli would be free of water scarcity as it would get water from Polavaram. “In a few years down the line, irrigation projects across North Andhra will be completed. I met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and appealed to her for allocation of funds for the development of North Andhra,” the Chief Minister mentioned.

Flays Oppn leaders

Describing the Opposition leaders with ‘Asuras’ (demons), Naidu said, “They have been filing cases to block the growth of the state, creating hurdles for IT companies which are coming to Andhra Pradesh. The idea behind converting medical colleges into PPP mode is to provide corporate medical treatment to the poor. However, the YSRCP is portraying the model in a negative way,” the Chief Minister pointed out. Naidu claimed that while the YSRCP had transformed Visakhapatnam into a ‘drug capital’, the NDA government changed the coastal city into AI, data and yoga capital of Andhra Pradesh. “The massive cultivation of ganja back then has now been replaced with coffee cultivation,” Naidu said.

Later, the Chief Minister lauded the efforts of the green ambassadors and encouraged them to contribute to the mission of making the state cleaner. He interacted with farmers who were making their own organic compost for the crops.