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Andhra Pradesh shuts Rs 5 a meal Anna Canteens

HYDERABAD: The YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) decision to review all decisions and agreements taken by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government has virtually halted all work in the state since the election results to the 175 seats of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly were declared in May.

Andhra Pradesh shuts Rs 5 a meal Anna Canteens

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy. File photo



Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, August 22

The YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) decision to review all decisions and agreements taken by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government has virtually halted all work in the state since the election results to the 175 seats of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly were declared in May.

Not only big projects but even smaller schemes like the Anna Canteens that provide a meal for Rs 5 have been shut.

Initially, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy had announced that the government would review all contracts given by the TDP regime that involved financial bids of Rs 100 crore or more.

But with passing days not only big projects like the Rs 58,000 crore Polavaram Project, an under-construction multi-purpose national project on Godavari river that has been halted, but even smaller schemes have been scrapped.

All 204 Anna Canteens were shut down by the government on August 1, citing irregularities affecting hundreds of daily wage labourers, beggars and needy.

Modelled on the lines of Tamil Nadu’s Amma Canteens, these were spread across 73 municipalities where an NGO Akshaya Patra was supplying cooked food.

TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu has lashed out at the government saying, “The government can do anything to TDP due to vendetta but TDP will not keep quiet if it continues to make poor people suffer.”

The YSRCP government has stopped all development work at the proposed state capital Amaravati and has announced renegotiating Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed by the previous government.

YSRCP spokesman Ambati Rambabu has cited irregularities as a reason for scrapping the projects, whereas the TDP has said all the actions of the YSRCP government were aimed at political vendetta, but it was directly impacting the lives of the common man.

Earlier this month the YSRCP had terminated the contract of Navayuga Engineering Company Limited (NECL) that was executing some works of around Rs 3000 crore to Polavaram project, being built across Godavari river.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has questioned some decision of the YSRCP government and asked the chief minister not to renegotiate old power purchase agreements (PPAs) for generating 8000 megawatts of electricity through wind and solar plants, signed by its predecessor as this will have a direct bearing on bank loans of Rs 37,000 crore by making it turn bad.

The PMO has asked the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to examine the matter of PPAs and find a quick solution.

Seeing the uncertainties in future of development activities, the World Bank (WB) and the Chinese Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) have already withdrawn from funding the new capital Amaravati project.

The Japanese have expressed their resentment at Andhra Pradesh trying to renegotiate the power purchase prices. The Japanese Embassy is believed to have said that the business environment would be significantly impaired if legally binding contracts are scrapped.

Meanwhile, YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy has said that all decisions concerning the PPA and Polavaram project have been taken after discussions with the Centre.

He said that the AP Government was only trying to make the state corruption-free and that people should not fall for the “propaganda” of the TDP that is trying to cover its “misdeeds by crying vendetta”.

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