Janmabhoomi: Naidu to tour all AP districts

Rechristened as ‘Mana Vooru’, the programme will address several public issues

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will tour all the 13 districts and address at least two grama sabhas in each of them during Janmabhoomi programme, being launched from October 2. Also christened as Mana Vooru, the programme would conclude on October 20.

A senior Minister in Naidu’s Cabinet told The Hans India on Monday that the Chief Minister had already directed mandal level officers and district collectors to prepare the list of beneficiaries eligible for enhanced pensions and link it to Aadhar so that they could be disbursed in grama sabhas. The Chief Minister will mainly campaign for his pet programmes like individual toilets in all villages, plantation of trees, recharging of ground water, enrolment of children in schools and health and sanitation. The Minister said that the Chief Minister had warned the collectors to ensure that genuine persons should be listed in the pension since the government had earmarked Rs 5,000 crore alone for the pension scheme.

The first phase of Janmabhoomi became the target of the Congress and Left parties which alleged that the programme benefited only the TDP members and sympathisers. Even employees’ and students’ organisations opposed it calling it a waste exercise. The Chief Minister involved an estimated 5.5 lakh government employees, mainly from the local bodies and the Revenue Department, 1.22 lakh students and 27,000 lecturers in the last round of Janmabhoomi.

In all, 18 rounds of Janmabhoomi were organised till it was scrapped by the Congress government in 2004.