Minister for Panchayat Raj and Information Technology N. Lokesh on Wednesday sought the cooperation of Gram Sarpanches in realising his vision of transforming every village into a model one.
Turning a bit emotional, Mr. Lokesh said: “I do not know whether I will grow in stature to the level of my father and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu or my grandfather and party founder-president N.T. Rama Rao. But I am sure I will not bring disrepute to them.”
“But my performance as a Minister is closely linked with that of yours at the grassroots level,” Mr. Lokesh said while sharing with the heads of rural local bodies his vision of providing best infrastructure such as LED street lights, motorable roads, drainage facilities, and piped water on a saturation basis in the next two years. Using technology, the performance of every local body would be rated on a daily basis by Mr. Naidu by monitoring it on the CM Dashboard, he said.
He promised to take up with the Chief Minister their demand for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, the State Assembly, and urban and rural local bodies.
Power dues
On the demand for one time settlement (OTS) of power dues of about ₹1,600 crore accumulated during the previous Congress regime, Mr. Lokesh said: “Though former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had asked the Sarpanches not to pay the power dues, nothing was done to clear the arrears though three Congress leaders had been at the helm after the Congress party was voted to power.”
“I would sit with Energy Minister K. Kala Venkata Rao to work out the modalities for OTS,” he said.
Earlier, holding an in-camera meeting with the district officials, Mr. Lokesh set a deadline of one month for energising farm pumpsets of the farmers selected under the prestigious NTR Jalasri scheme on receipt of the beneficiaries’ contribution.
He directed constitution of joint teams with officials of the relevant departments to cut down delays as Parchur MLA Y. Sambasiva Rao complained of the farmers’ applications for power connection pending for a long time.
He exhorted the district officials to promote sericulture, animal husbandry, horticulture, and pisciculture in a big way to ensure a minimum monthly income of ₹10,000 to each household.
Mr. Lokesh pulled up the officials for delay in works on sanctioned burial grounds in villages.