AP State administration to work from Visakhapatnam from this Dussehra

AMARAVATI: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that the State administration will start functioning from Visakhapatnam starting from this Dussehra.

He declared this at the State Cabinet meeting in Amaravati on Wednesday. The state cabinet has also resolved to implement fee reimbursement for the children of retired Government employees and extend benefits of the ‘Aarogyasri’ scheme to retired government employees including their kin.

The cabinet further decided that each Government employee should have a permanent house site by the time he or she retired from service. The cabinet also gave its nod to implement the Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS) Bill for Government employees.

It was reported that the Chief Minister while speaking with his cabinet colleagues about the possibility of the Centre opting for one nation one election simultaneous polls, has said that the decision of the Centre in this issue will be final.

As many as 49 Governance articles were discussed during the cabinet meeting; some of the key decisions (relevant to the upcoming session) are as follows:

Shift to Vizag: The administration would move to Vizag and function from there after Dussehra. A committee will be constituted to plan & execute the transition.

Jagananna Civil Services Aspirants Scheme: To support civil service aspirants, the State Government has decided to provide around Rs 50,000 for those cleared Prelims and Rs 1 lakh for candidates' qualified Mains (great measure, since most candidates would leave their jobs to prepare)

GPS for Govt Employees: The State Government intends to formalise the change from the old CPS to GPS

Approval for Regularisation of Assigned Lands: This would facilitate a transfer of ownership of 34.7 lakh acres of assigned lands to around 19 lakh farmer beneficiaries.

Regularization of Contractual Employees: Long-standing demand; as many as 10,000 employees would benefit from this.

AP Vaidya Vidhan Parishad Amendment: An act for managing secondary-level hospitals (CHC, AHs & DHs) in the State — to include PHCs and medical colleges under it.

Private Universities Amendment: Aimed at converting top-performing State Colleges into private universities as per the guidelines of New Education Policy 2020, may also alter laws on quota seats to provide adequate opportunities for young people.

Approval of Proposal to allot 50 percent seats to Tribals in Kurupam Engineering colleges.

Approval for construction of as many as 8,400 houses for Polavaram flood victims.