Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 54: Village Secretariats Will Ensure Transparency Under YSRCP

This morning I set out from Kallur in Chittoor district and along the way in Srinivasa Puram I met a dairy farmer who told me about the troubled times he was going through. He explained that he had invested about Rs.70,000 in cattle and now without procuring the minimum price for milk he has run into problems. He told me with a sense of satisfaction that YSRCP‘s proposal of supporting the dairy farmer with a subsidy of 4 rupees per litre would be very encouraging and useful

In Kalluri I had an interaction with members of the Muslim community at great length and I came to gauge the extent to which the Chandrababu Naidu government had neglected minority welfare and how insensitive it was to the needs of the minority community. The Muslims have a huge percentage of the poor and the deprived. Many children drawn from Muslim families work in mechanics’ garages, cycle-repair shops and wayside tea stalls as daily wage labourers. Their socio economic condition is pathetic which is why my father had envisioned reservations for them.

During my interaction with them at Kalluru, a young Muslim gentleman, Mohammed told me “Anna my nephew had an accident and the hospitals here did not have the required facilities. We had to take him to Hyderabad for further treatment, but hospitals in Hyderabad refused to treat him saying that they could not provide healthcare services to people from Andhra Pradesh under the Arogyasri scheme. The common citizens of Andhra Pradesh under Chandrababu Naidu's government find themselves trapped in a Catch-22 situation. Andhra Pradesh does not have advanced healthcare facilities in many places and the government at the same time, does not extend Arogyasri to neighbouring states. If a person cannot get himself treated in Hyderabad under Arogyasri because Andhra Pradesh does not have the required healthcare facility, where is he supposed to go? What is he supposed to do? Normally any government worth its salt, tries to provide the best of healthcare to its people but the TDP government seems to be pursuing a very different course. After witnessing on a first-hand basis, the plight of the poor and the untold suffering they are subjected to in the domain of healthcare, I have resolved that once YSRCP comes to power, Arogyasri will be extended to other places including Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore in neighbouring states. Rashida Begum lamented that though her loan had been sanctioned, she was told that it would be released only after she met the members of the Janmabhoomi committee. She said, “Anna this system should change under your rule.” My father, the late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy always used to say that in politics, parties have their differences only till elections and that after elections all differences should stand dissolved. He would say—eligibility should be the sole criterion for justice and merit should be the only touchstone of fairness. This government is driven by bias and partisan politics. By instituting extra-constitutional bodies in the name of Janmabhoomi committees at the ground level, they have watered down the administrative structure. Day to day Government functioning at the village and mandal level is hamstrung because of the interference and intrusive nature of these Janmabhoomi committees, which are extra-constitutional in nature. Political influence and bribes constitute the order of the day, thanks to these committees.

I have resolved to overhaul the system once YSRCP comes to power and have decided to ensure transparency in the functioning of the government. My proposal is to establish village-level Secretariats which will function as nodal offices, making all government services accessible to the poorest of the poor in a transparent manner.

I then met students of DIET who poured out their troubles to me—though their two-year course was on the verge of completion, their first year exams had not been held as yet! This itself is reflection of the government’s indifference to their plight. They would lose the eligibility to appear for DSC, they feared.

I have a question for the Chief Minister—are you not responsible for the plight of these students whose exams have not yet been held after they completed their two-year course? Are you not guilty of putting their future in peril?