No death for leaders who did good: CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Ongole: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy unveiled the bronze statues of his father and late Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajashekara Reddy and former Darsi MLA Buchepalli Subba Reddy at Chimakurthy here on Wednesday. He said that great leaders will stay in the hearts of people forever as there is no death for those who did good. He said that the government was making arrangements to install Dr B R Ambedkar statue in Vijayawada on April 14 next year.

The Chief Minister said his father Rajasekhara Reddy had become a symbol for the welfare of poor and farmers in Andhra Pradesh. "YSR proved that the government can give free electricity to the farmers, and introduced fee reimbursement, 108 ambulance service, Aarogyasri to provide education and health as an asset to the people while carrying on with the task of constructing houses and irrigation projects," he said.

The Chief Minister said that he remember the promise made to the representatives of the Granite Stone Cutting and Polishing Units Association during his padayatra through Chimakurthy, and added that the slab system was reintroduced in the state and a GO No 58 was issued accordingly on Tuesday night.

As part of the slab rate, he explained that the granite cutting and polishing units that are processing about 22 cubic meters of stone in the Prakasam district need to pay Rs 27,000 for a single blade and Rs 54,000 for multi-blade as seigniorage per month, while the units in Srikakulam district and Rayalaseema have to pay Rs 22,000 and Rs 44,000 respectively. Apart from this, the Chief Minister also announced reduction of Rs 2 per unit on electricity charges for granite processing units.

Besides, the Chief Minister also announced reduction of Rs 2 per unit in power bills to small granite units, from the existing tariff of Rs 6.3o and Rs 6.7o per unit. With both slab system and reduction in power bills, an amount of Rs 350 crore will be borne by the state government every year.

He said the earlier governments completed 11.58 km of 18.80 km length first tunnel and 8.74 km of 18.78 km length second tunnel of the Veligonda project. "In his five-year term as the Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu was able to complete only 4.33 km in the first tunnel and 2.35 km in the second tunnel. But the YSRCP government has completed the pending 2.90 km of the first tunnel and did 3.71 km of boring in the second tunnel," he said.

He asserted that the government will complete the remaining 3.96 km of the second tunnel boring by September 2023 and inaugurate the project before going for elections.

Also, he promised to grant Rs 20 crore for the construction of a new Zilla Parishad building in Chimakurthy and making Mogigundla pond in Thullur mandal a mini reservoir and naming it after Buchepalli Subba Reddy reservoir.

Ministers Merugu Nagarjuna, Dr Audimulapu Suresh, MP Nandigam Suresh, MLCs Pothula Suneetha, Thumati Madhava Reddy, former minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, MLAs T J R Sudhakar Babu, Burra Madhusudan Yadav, Anna Rambabu, Karanam Balarama Krishnamurthy, Kunduru Nagarjuna Reddy, former MLA Buchepalli Sivaprasad Reddy, and other senior leaders also participated in the programme.