Housewarming of 3 lakh units performed on single day in Andhra
Vijayawada, July 5: The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday claimed to have set a record with the opening of over three lakh houses built for poor across the state on a single day.
'Gruhapravesam' (housewarming) programme of 3,00,346 houses built under housing scheme for poor in all 13 districts of the state was performed simultaneously, an official statement said.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu launched the programme in Vijayawada while ministers and other public representatives participated in the house warming in different parts of the state.
The Chief Minister said the houses were completed during 2017-18 at a cost of Rs 3,746 crore. The beneficiaries were from the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and the backward classes.
He claimed that nowhere such a large number of houses were launched on a single day. He announced that housewarming of another 3 lakh houses would be performed in January next year.
Naidu said 5,80,849 houses were completed from 2014 to June this year under various schemes. House warming of one lakh houses was performed on October 2 last year.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief said his government was working to fulfil the dream of all the poor to have their own house.
Targeting the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, he said it promised to build one crore houses but could not complete even 35 lakh houses across the country.
He said while the state government spent Rs 6,260 crore towards housing so far, the Central government allotted only Rs 1,296 crore.
Naidu slammed the Centre for betraying the state on all fronts. He said the state government would continue its welfare schemes despite not getting cooperation from the NDA government.
The TDP chief said the Centre had done injustice by stating in its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court that special category status can't be given to Andhra Pradesh.
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Karnataka Health Minister Rao hopeful of resolving issues raised by docs, health staff
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Tuesday expressed hope to find a solution to the issues raised by KGMOA and other health department employees' associations as they have called for a statewide strike.
As part of the phased statewide agitation by Karnataka Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA), all Outpatient Department (OPD) services will be affected from March 11.
From March 16, doctors plan a complete boycott of duties, including emergency services, if the government fails to act.
"We have discussed with doctors and healthcare workers. We have spoken to them twice. Yesterday, we communicated the government's actions to them through our commissioner," Rao said in the Legislative Assembly.
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He said, "Their demands include issues pending for several years, such as Cadre and Recruitment Rules, the seniority list, and discrepancies in the last counselling, among others."
"We plan to resolve them. There are several other issues, I don't want to discuss now. We have called them for a meeting with the chief minister today. We will discuss and resolve what we can in the interest of the department and most importantly the public. I'm confident that the issue will be resolved soon," he added.
The minister was replying to a question raised by three MLAs, including BJP's Sunil Kumar during the question hour.
"With various demands, doctors across the state have called for an indefinite strike starting tomorrow. Supply of medicines, transfer policy and filling vacancies are the major issues they have raised," he said.
Noting that the doctors and healthcare staff have threatened to stop OPD operations from March 11 and emergency services from March 16, he said, "This is worrying. The heads of the doctors' and healthcare staff associations told the media that although they brought their issues to the government's attention a month ago, they have not been called for discussion to resolve the issue."
He further urged that the government should not take any drastic measures, like imposing Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), to curtail the strike. "The government should adopt negotiation instead of conflict. They should call them and resolve the issue immediately."
Congress MLA and chief whip Ashok Pattan said the strike by doctors and healthcare staff will affect the poor.
"The government should call the representatives of doctors and healthcare staff for a meeting and resolve their issues that can be solved immediately. They should also convince them that other issues would be addressed in stages," he said.
Another Congress MLA, Hampanagouda Badarli, also made a similar demand.
