Telangana, Andhra Pradesh to reel out sops on New Year for 2019 polls

Hyderabad: The governments of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will move into top gear in 2018 to keep the “feel-good factor” going among all sections of society in the run- up to the 2019 Assembly elections.

New Year’s Day, January 1, 2018, will mark the launch of two populist schemes in both the states: TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will launch the 24x7 free power supply to farmers, and his AP counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu will launch the Chandranna Pelli Kanuka (Marriage Gift) scheme, under which 40,000 couples from the BC community will be given Rs 25,000 each for their wedding.

Mr Naidu also announced that he would launch a new pension scheme of Rs 1,000 per month for transgenders in 2018.

The TS government has lined up several populist schemes costing Rs 40,000 crore. The AP government is readying unemployment allowance of Rs 2,000 per month for the 15 lakh unemployed in the state, launching the construction of the new capital city of Amaravati, and thousands of houses for the poor.

Mr Rao is focusing on schemes that will benefit all castes and religions. He ordered a survey to identify Most Backward Classes among BCs to extend Rs 1,000 crore sops to these communities in 2018.

After launching sheep distribution scheme in 2017 for Yadav/Kuruma families, Mr Rao will provide Rs 85,000 for buffaloes for dairy farmers in 2018. 

For Muslim students, Mr Rao announced fee reimbursement from 2018 to pursue higher and professional education courses, and raised the income limit on par with SCs and STs to avail the benefit. Mr Naidu is racing against time to construct the new Amaravati, which was delayed due several issues.

His target is to develop infrastructure such roads, water and power supply, housing for government employees and others, construction of the Secretariat and Assembly building before 2019.

1. Mission Bhagiratha 
Project cost Rs 45,000 crore. To provide uninterrupted piped and treated water to every household through from Krishna and Godavari rivers by June 2018; broadband connectivity to be given to all by December 2018 as the optic fibre cables are laid simultaneously along with Mission Bhagiratha pipelines.

2. Free power to farms
The scheme to be launched on New Year day. At present a nine-hour free power is extended to agriculture. From New Year, over 23 lakh agriculture pumpsets will get 24-hour power supply at a cost of Rs 5,500 crore per year. This is among the several populist schemes costing Rs 40,000 crore lined up in 2018.

3. Rs 8K per acre Per year
State government to credit Rs 8,000 per acre per year in two instalments from 2018 to farmers. The first instalment of Rs 4,000 in May for Kharif and Rs 4,000 in November for Rabi. Around 60 lakh farmers irrespective of their land holdings would benefit from this scheme.

For Muslim students, Mr Rao announced fee reimbursement from 2018 to pursue higher and professional education courses, and raised the income limit on par with SCs and STs to avail the benefit.