The Hindu : Front Page : Chief Minister chides district Collectors

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Sunday, Jun 07, 2009
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Chief Minister chides district Collectors

Special Correspondent

Attributes Congress’ “not very good” mandate to poor delivery system

TOUGH TALK: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy interacting with Collectors through video-conference on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy told district Collectors on Saturday that the Congress party would have won more than 200 Assembly seats in the recent elections if they had ensured proper delivery of the benefits to the sections where they were targeted.

Interacting with Collectors and senior district officials through a video conference, the Chief Minister also stated that the delivery system suffered on account of the confusion caused by the Election Commission in changing its stand from time to time over payment of bills for construction of Indiramma houses and NREGS, Rajiv Arogyasri and its flip-flop on the ‘108’ ambulance service.

Calling for a thorough introspection on the way these schemes were implemented, the Chief Minister observed that the delivery system was not up to the mark in the past five years when numerous schemes were launched. “If you had taken the benefits to the people, it would have helped the government. The mandate secured by us is good but not very good,” he remarked.

Dr. Reddy asked the Collectors to earmark Mondays to hear and resolve grievances and make field visits two days in a week to improve the delivery system. “There is no point in doing office work from dawn to dusk. You must ensure that a benefit, say a ration card, does not reach an ineligible person and even the last eligible person is not left out.”

The Chief Minister advised the Collectors to politely reject recommendations even from Ministers and MLAs if they wished to punish a corrupt employee.

He instructed AP Transco to supply power for nine hours in two spells to the farm sector under all circumstances. If farmers sought seeds for specific crops which were in short supply, they must be properly educated on the need for shifting to other crops. He asked officials to complete the 7 lakh Indiramma houses which reached roof level and give money wherever SC/ST beneficiaries lacked funds.

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