AP Cabinet Approves Mega DSC, Pension Hike

Vijayawada: The first Cabinet meeting of the Telugu Desam-led government on Monday approved several poll promises, decided to release seven white papers on major concerns of the state, and set up a five-member Cabinet panel to curb the ganja menace in Andhra Pradesh.

Among other things, the Cabinet approved the conduct of Mega DSC-2024 to fill 16,347 posts. Information and Public Relations Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy disclosed details of the meeting to the media.

The minister said the previous YSRC government had issued a notification for only 6,100 teacher posts. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu appended his first signature to conduct Mega DSC, one of his main poll promises.

The minister said DSC would be held every year to recruit teachers and provide quality education to students. The Cabinet also approved the holding of Teacher Eligibility Test as per norms at regular intervals.

The meeting approved the abolition of the AP Land Titling Act, 2022. There was a variation in the Act proposed by the Niti Aayog and the one brought forward by the previous government, it noted.

In case of any complaint with regard to the Act, petitioners can move the High Court after consulting the title registration officer. Such cases do not have jurisdiction for local or district-level civil courts.

He said that, with the abolition of the Act, people would now take the original documents of their property into their possession.

The Cabinet has also approved enhanced social security pensions in 28 categories to the beneficiaries. As per the poll promise made by Naidu, the pension of the enhanced Rs 4,000 per month will be given to the pensioners with arrears of Rs 1,000 each for April, May and June. This meant the pensioners would get Rs 7,000 at their doorsteps on July 1. The money would be handed over to the beneficiaries by the village/ward secretariat staff.

Nearly 66 lakh pensioners would get the social security pension in AP. The state government would incur an expenditure of around Rs 33,099 crore per annum against the previous YSRC government’s annual commitment of nearly 23,273 crore.

Another decision taken by the state Cabinet was to conduct the skill census and provide training to the youths. On average, 4.4 lakh youths are passing out from engineering, degree and technical colleges every year. The state government intends to complete the skill census in about three to four months and provide training based on the requirements in various sectors.

The Cabinet gave its approval for revival of 183 Anna Canteens to provide a nutritious diet at a subsidised rate of `5 per meal to the poor across the state. There used to be 203 Anna Canteens. The new government intends to revive the remaining 20 Anna Canteens.

By another decision of the Cabinet, Dr YSR University of Health Sciences will be rechristened as Dr NTR University of Health Sciences. In 1986, the government set up the AP University of Health Sciences and in 1998, the then-state government amended the Act and named it as NTR University of Health Sciences. However, in 2006, the university’s name was changed to Dr NTR University of Health Sciences.

In 2022, the YSRC government renamed the university as Dr YSR UHS. Now, the TD-led government decided to rechristen the university as Dr NTR UHS.

“The previous change of name of the university had resulted in students getting their mark memos and certificates in different names, thereby causing trouble to them in pursuing higher education or seeking employment. Hence, the Cabinet decided to restore the old name to the university.”

Naidu has suggested to the ministers to release seven white papers on Polavaram, Amaravati, energy, environment (land, sand, mines and geology), liquor, law and order and finance between June 28 and July 18 to “enable the people to know the real state of affairs in various sectors.”

A five-member Cabinet sub-committee with the ministers for education, health, home, excise and tribal welfare has been constituted, to frame an action plan on how to curb transport as also sale of ganja and drugs.

The Chief Minister has given instructions for maintenance of sanitation in gram panchayats and municipalities in the state and to take up desiltation as also to remove hyacinth from the canals, tanks and other water bodies.

Naidu also called for measures to control spread of seasonal fevers and to fill potholes on roads belonging to the panchayats as also roads and buildings, the minister said.