VIJAYAWADA: Reiterating his commitment to transparent, accountable and corruption-free governance, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday interacted with officials and the public to elicit their opinions on improving governance and welfare programmes. The election manifesto is like a Bible, Quran and Bhagavad Gita, and all promises will be kept, he said, adding that a copy of the manifesto will be sent to every household so people can assess the government’s performance. He further said his government has fulfilled 90 per cent of its promises, and by next year, it would fulfil 97-98 per cent.

Commencing the five-day ‘Mana Palana - Mee Suchana’ programme on the theme ‘Governance and Welfare’, Jagan spoke about his 14-month 3,648 km Praja Sankalpa Yatra and how it influenced him. “During the padayatra, I spent from morning to night understanding people’s problems and how best to help them. I felt the desired changes could only be brought about if the present system of governance is revamped. The new system should be transparent and non-discriminatory. Schemes need to be implemented in saturation mode,” he said.

The result was the village/ward secretariat and volunteer system, he said, adding that village/ward secretariats have a list of beneficiaries along with the eligibility criteria for schemes, so people who are left out can enrol. A social audit is being conducted to ensure no one is left out, Jagan asserted, and said that in the past year, the government succeeded in its endeavour to deliver services at people’s doorsteps.

As for the drive to implement total prohibition, Jagan said that during his padayatra, he observed belt shops near schools and temples in every village. “Unlike the previous government, which only focused on getting people addicted to alcohol, our government took over liquor shops and removed belt shops and permit rooms, besides gradually reducing the number of liquor stores and increasing the price of liquor,” he said.

Reiterating that his government is working towards making villages self-sufficient, the Chief Minister asked the people to visualise a village with the village secretariat providing all government services at their doorstep, English-medium government schools, YSR village clinics, Rythu Bharosa Kendras, Janata Bazaars, where farmers can only sell their produce, including aqua, poultry and dairy products, at remunerative prices.

‘1.35 L jobs provided in AP’
“A total of 11,162 village secretariats were set up and 1.35 lakh jobs provided. This has never happened before in the State, and perhaps in the country,” the CM said