Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Monday that the state is number one in the country in public welfare as it has spent over Rs 50,000 crore on social security pensions alone during the last 18 months.
The Chief Minister participated in the Pedala Seva (service to the poor) programme in Eluru district by distributing monthly pensions among a few beneficiaries and interacting with them.
He personally visited the residence of Nagalakshmi, a kidney patient in Unguturu and handed over to her the monthly pension. He also met her children and spent a few moments with the family.
Later, addressing a public meeting, he said that in the 18 months since the coalition government came to power, Rs 50,763 crore has been spent on pension distribution alone, and there is no other state in the country that is spending on welfare at this level.
“We are spending Rs 1.65 lakh crore on pensions in five years at the rate of Rs 32,143 crore annually. The governments of neighbouring states Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and even the largest state Uttar Pradesh are not spending at this level,” he said.
The government is disbursing Rs 2,739 crore every month to over 63 lakh people. “We are providing pensions to 13 out of every hundred people in the state. 59 percent of those receiving pensions every month are women. Out of Rs 50,000 crore disbursed so far, Rs 30,000 crore has been given to women alone,” he said.
The Chief Minister disclosed that this month, widow pension is being given to 7,533 new beneficiaries with an additional expenditure of Rs 3 crore.
He said during the past five years, if a beneficiary did take a single month’s pension, he was being denied pension. CM Naidu pointed out that the present government released Rs 114 crore to 1,39,677 people who had not taken pension for 2 months, and Rs 16 crore to 13,325 people who had not taken pension for three months.
He recalled that it was TDP founder and former Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao who launched pensions in 1984. “We are gradually increasing it and are currently giving Rs 4000. We were providing a pension on the first of every month as a responsibility despite financial difficulties,” he said.
The CM claimed that while implementing welfare schemes, the government was taking the state forward on the path of development. The government is providing financial assistance of Rs 15,000 annually for every child studying in a government school. The amount is being given to the mother of the child under the scheme ‘Talli ki vandanam’.
CM Naidu said that the Super Six has been successfully implemented as promised in the elections. He claimed that people gave a massive mandate to the coalition to rebuild the destroyed state.
“Under Deepam-2, we are providing 3 cylinders free of cost every year. So far, 2.85 crore cylinders have been provided free of cost. For this, Rs 2,104 crore has been spent. Under the Stree Shakti scheme, 25 crore women have taken free bus rides to date. The posts of 16,347 teachers have been with Mega DSC after the coalition government came to power,” he said.
He underlined the need for population balance, saying a declining population is a matter of concern. He said population balance will help the country and the state stand at the top.
