Andhra Pradesh to redo Vision-2020 after bifurcation

THE TELUGU Desam Party (TDP) government in Andhra Pradesh would make all out efforts to achieve a 10 per cent-plus growth rate in the next 10 years by focusing on building growth corridors for sectors identified with high employment potential.

By P. S. Jayaram (Reporting from Hyderabad)

Published: Mon 23 Jun 2014, 12:04 AM

Last updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 1:27 AM

“The government is planning to develop the state as a world-class manufacturing hub, besides establishing many contemporary versions of cyber cities by leveraging latest developments in technology, social media, cloud (computing) and mobile technologies for development as well as governance,” Governor E S L Narasimhan said, addressing the first joint session of the truncated Andhra Pradesh State Legislature on Saturday.

Stating that two Information Technology Investment Regions (ITIRs) at Visakhapatnam and Tirupati and two mega IT centres at Anantapuram and Vijayawada were being planned to propel growth of IT sector, he said the government would come out with a new vision document that will set standards for a new development paradigm in sync with the changed circumstances and place the state among the best three performing states in the country by 2022.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in his earlier avatar as chief minister of the united state between 1995 and 2004, had brought out the Vision-2020 for the development of the state, and the government is planning to revive and revise it for development of Seemandhra.

The governor said: “The government will re-draft the Vision-2020 document to frame a vision that will set the standards for a new development paradigm. The principal endeavor of the government will be to make AP a developed state, measured in terms of citizen satisfaction and happiness index by 2029.”

Stating that the government was working out a new model of governance with focus on decentralisation and development of multiple business hubs, Narasimhan said the administration’s endeavor was to put in place a hassle-free and conducive environment to encourage establishment of new industries in the new state.

“Our focus will be on setting up an ideal environment of infrastructure like roads and transport system, goods transport system, railway system, seaport, airport, free trade zones, water transport system, telecommunications and optical fibre systems,” he said.

Touching an emotional chord, Narasimhan said the state’s bifurcation had left a deep scar on the psyche of the Telugu people.

“Popular sentiments, aspirations and expectations of a large section of the populace remain unfulfilled. The decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and the manner in which it was done has left behind a deep sense of disappointment and trail of bitter memories. It will take time for these memories to heal,” he said.

The governor, calling for a re-look at distribution of assets and liabilities and other issues, said: “Discords and inconsistencies relating to distribution of assets and liabilities, allocation of power generating units, procedure adopted for distribution of personnel and demarcation of boundaries warrant a re-look to fulfill the aspirations of the people.” “A more consistent principle and certain uniformity of basis on apportionment of debt, power sharing, issues in the field of education and more equitable distribution of cadre is the call of the hour,” he added.

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