Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will inaugurate the new chariot built for the Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple at Antarvedi village in East Godavari district on Friday.

The new chariot, built at a cost of Rs 90 lakh, is ready in time for the temple’s popular Kalyanostavam starting Friday.

On Thursday, East Godavari district collector Muralidhar Reddy, superintendent of police Adnan Syed Asmi and other senior officials reviewed the arrangements for the Chief Minister’s visit.

Joining several other locals amid religious chants, the officials pulled the chariot for a little distance using a large rope to ensure that everything is in place.

Reddy is expected to take a look at the old chariot as well on Friday when he comes to participate in the Kalyanostavam.

The decades old chariot got gutted in a fire in September 2020 for unknown reasons, leading to an uproar across the state and prompting the government to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Without wasting time, the state government started the procedure for building a new wooden chariot which is almost similar to the old one and is ready for the occasion now.

Sameer Kochhar, Chairman of Skoch Group, is a noted writer and economic policy analyst. His Group has been giving the best CM awards every year. This year, his group has conferred the ‘CM of the Year’ award for AP Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy. It says that by implementing over 123 projects across all sectors in one year, Jagan Reddy has emerged as the best Chief Minister in the entire country.

In its observations, the Skoch Group has maintained that the AP CM has implemented many projects like YSR Rythu Bharosa Kendra that have proved to be nationally significant. They have shown good outcomes. They have also talked about YSR Cheyutha Scheme, Disha, Abhay and such other schemes.

Interestingly, Sameer Kochhar team has not touched upon the economic impact of the Jagan Reddy schemes which are ninety percent focused on cash transfers to the beneficiaries. They said 123 projects were studied across all sectors but there has been no mention of the Capital City project nor industrial development nor the progress of the irrigation projects.

The Skoch team described the Disha Act as a path-breaking one for helping women to move freely in society. The fact is that the Disha Act is still a toothless law which is yet to get the approval of the Central Government.

What more, being an expert in economics, Sameer Kochhar has missed the point how AP is finding it hard to even pay salaries and pensions because of the deepening financial crisis.

Almost all the programmes of the ruling YCP till now are aimed at the welfare of the poor families. Jagananna Ammavadi, Thordu, Chedodu, Vidya Deevena, etc were intended for the poorer sections only. Now on, the CM is also aiming at the middle classes vote banks too.

For this, the Jagan regime is coming out with an elaborate plan on the smart townships programme. As part of this, the Government will aim at making affordable housing to come within the reach of the small and middle class families. All the facilities will be provided at these townships.

These townships will be taken up on a no-profit basis by the Government. Analysts say this is indeed a tactical move by the Chief Minister at a time when the real estate sector and the construction industry have totally collapsed in AP. This is mainly because of the lack of sand supply at affordable prices.

Even an average middle class family is not able to construct a house on their own because of the high rates of sand, cement and other raw materials. Undoubtedly, there will be a huge demand for these smart townships if the Jagan regime really implements the scheme by ensuring sale of houses at lower rates compared to the market.

The Andhra Pradesh Government filed a fresh petition before the High Court of AP for relief from the State Election Commissioners’ orders on the ration delivery vehicles. The Government’s lawyers argued that it would take nearly 3 months time to change colours and photos of the ration vehicles. This would cause disruption of the Government services to the poor people in rural areas.

Hence, the Government asked the High Court to cancel SEC Ramesh Kumar’s orders and give permission to restart the ration delivery with the vehicles having the YCP colours and the Chief Minister’s photo. Whereas, the court has already given an order a few days ago that the SEC should inspect the ration vehicles and give necessary approval for ration delivery.

Ramesh Kumar inspected the vehicles and promptly suggested change of party colours and removal of the CM photos in the election-bound areas. That would be a waste of public money since the changes would have to be made for a temporary period for the purpose of holding the elections.

The Government told the court that the SEC orders were stalling ration delivery to 4.27 lakh families. But Ramesh Kumar ordered stalling of ration delivery only in areas where the elections are being held.

Pulse polio programme began in the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Sunday to cover 91 lakh children below five years.

Children of 0-5 years were administered the drops at thousands of booths set up in all 33 districts of Telangana and 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The programme was launched by Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender in Hyderabad while it was rolled out in Andhra Pradesh by Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Health authorities in both the states made elaborate arrangements for the programme at pulse polio booths and transit points. They also took all precautionary measures in view of Covid-19 pandemic.

The vaccinators would be provided surgical masks, hand sanitisers and disposable gloves at all pulse polio booths.

On Monday and Tuesday, the health workers will go door to door to immunize the children who miss the drops. In Hyderabad, the programme would continue till Wednesday.

Officials said special emphasis was being laid on immunizing children of high risk groups such as nomads, migrants, urban slum dwellers and brick kiln workers.

In Telangana, a total of 38,31,907 children in the 0-5 years age group are targetted to be covered during the pulse polio programme.

Health Minister Eatala Rajender, who administered the drops at Shameerpet, said 23,331 polio booths were set up while 877 mobile teams were also pressed into service.

Around 50.14 lakh doses of bOPV vaccine doses have been supplied to districts.

In Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan launched the pulse polio immunization programme by administering polio drops to children aged below five years at Raj Bhavan. Speaking on the occasion, he said the campaign has been launched with an aim to eliminate poliomyelitis (polio) in the country by vaccinating all children under the age of five years.

Harichandan said around 52.72 lakh children of less than five years of age are targeted for administration of polio drops in the state, as part of the drive to sustain polio eradication from the country.

He noted that there has been not a single case of polio reported in the country since 2011.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the programme by administering polio drops to children at his official residence in Amaravati.

Deputy Chief Minister Alla Krishna Srinivas, Health Principal Secretary Anil Kumar Singhal, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar and other officials were present on the occasion.