Welfare Governance Has Always Taken A Backseat Under Chandrababu

Kothapalem Cross, Visakhapatnam District: The tale of sorrow narrated by Sringavarapu Kantham near Line Cross on my Padayatra, is a reflection of the insensitive governance which is putting the common people to hardship all over the state. Her pension has been stopped and even though she borrowed and spent Rs.16,000 to build a toilet, the bill has not been paid for over 11 months. She has been going around government offices and is completely vexed and was in tears as she narrated her problems.

Similarly, Potireddi Kumari got married at a very young age and lost her husband. She is being made to run around government offices for a ration card in vain. Her pension is linked to her ration card because officials say unless you have a pension, you are not eligible for a ration card! This is the catch-22 situation she finds herself in. I have come across hundreds of such instances during the course of my Padayatra. Welfare governance has always been placed on the backburner by Chandrababu Naidu on one pretext or the other and it is the poor who pay a heavy price for the apathy of the government.

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A number of small and medium farmers met me in these parts. They told me about the miserable condition of farmers in this region. Many of them depended mainly on dairy farming for their livelihood. All these years, the cooperative sector provided a good support structure and they could continue dairy farming activity happily. Once Chandrababu Naidu came to power, private dairy set ups took over and the cooperative system began to face problems as it slid into decline. They told me how private dairy establishments were cheating them. Even the wages they paid for labour were well below a reasonable amount, they said. These private establishments paid an average of Rs.24 per litre for cows milk, they said—the same as that of mineral water! “Anna, under TDP, what is the difference between the two?” This was their poser to me.

Each time Chandrababu Naidu comes to power, this is the state of cooperative dairies. Heritage Dairy continues to prosper while the cooperative dairy sector suffers. Chandrababu has turned into a middleman himself and has diluted the cooperative sector completely.

Residents of Yalamanchili expressed their anguish about their village being turned into a municipality. “Why did they do it“? They said they could not understand the reason behind this decision and expressed their unhappiness about this development. Municipal taxes have become a burden for them and the officials were hounding them for payment, they complained. Though thousands of rupees are being collected, the state of sanitation was pathetic, they said. They pointed out that the sewerage system was a mess and government officials were completely indifferent. They asked—“Is this governance”? They wanted to know if the government existed only to exploit the common citizen.

After the lunch break, it began to rain. On the occasion of Praja Sankalpa Yatra having crossed the 2800 km milestone, I planted a sapling at Yalamanchili. At the time of the scheduled public meeting in the evening, it began to rain heavily. People however, came in large numbers to listen to me and I had mixed feelings. On the one hand it gave me tremendous happiness to see them eager to listen to me, but at the same time I was overcome with sadness to see how they were drenched in the rain. Many women were holding their young ones in their arms as they stood in pouring rain. Therefore, I could not cover all the topics I wished to, but their suggestions and problems remained fresh in my mind.

I have a question for the chief minister—whenever you come to power, profits of the Heritage group shoot up and it spreads its tentacles into other states, as well. Conversely, cooperative dairy farming goes into a rapid state of decline and each dairy faces closure. What is the reason? Why does this happen only in your tenure?