Adopt tech-driven governance, ensure 90 per cent public satisfaction: Andhra CM tells collectors

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday directed district collectors to adopt technology-driven approaches to improve public satisfaction in the delivery of government services and welfare programmes. Come out with innovative ideas by adopting technology to achieve highest public satisfaction level in delivery of government services, including welfare programmes, said Naidu.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday directed district collectors to adopt technology-driven approaches to improve public satisfaction in the delivery of government services and welfare programmes. Addressing the seventh collectors conference at the Secretariat, the CM instructed the collectors to utilise social media platforms to publicise the government's achievements. ''Come out with innovative ideas by adopting technology to achieve highest public satisfaction level in delivery of government services, including welfare programmes,'' said Naidu. Empahsising that public satisfaction should be top priority, he gave them the mandate to achieve more than 90 per cent public satisfaction in all services. He directed all the 28 district collectors, including the two newly formed districts, to transform their district into an innovation hub to empower people, achieve development and implement welfare schemes. By introducing 28 'best policies', Naidu said the coalition government was able to enhance Andhra's credibility nationally and internationally, resulting in increased investments. Through 17 State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) meetings in the past 23 months, he said Rs 23 lakh crore worth investments were approved with the potential to generate 24 lakh jobs. Naidu said the state is progressing towards green energy, green hydrogen, green ammonia production and was able to transform Vizag into a technology hub with the arrival of the USD 15 billion Google data centre, and added that a quantum valley is emerging in Amaravati. Further, he directed officials to finalise revenue records by March 2027 to strengthen public confidence. Noting that ratings will be given to both ministers and district collectors based on their performance, the CM said the principle of 'seeing is believing' will be followed, and called on the collectors to make field visits to learn public response personally. He encouraged healthy competition among district collectors in improving district-level performance, Naidu said those implementing best practices will be made mentors and those best practices will be implemented in other districts. Highlighting that the government was successful in bringing down power purchase cost by 30 paise, he said efforts are on to further reduce it by another 30 paise. The CM stressed that all government services should be made online by December and underlined that the southern state should be made a logistics hub. He urged the collectors to take initiatives to educate farmers towards demand-driven agriculture practices, and advised them to put an 'end to moving files' and initiate steps to focus on results to win the public appreciation over speedy delivery of government services. Earlier, Naidu alleged that the previous YSRCP government had left behind debts worth Rs 10 lakh crore. The chief minister also accused the previous government of ''diverting'' Rs 10,000 crore funds from 94 Central schemes. ''From the previous rulers, the government has received Rs 9.74 lakh crore in debts. The previous government had diverted Rs 10,000 crore from 94 Central schemes,'' said Naidu. According to the CM, there used to be heavy leakage of funds in welfare schemes, and that the direct benefit transfer (DBT) method has plugged it by directly depositing the funds into the beneficiaries' accounts. Blaming the previous YSRCP government for the potholed roads, the CM said the state government is now ruling in such a way that living standards are improved, along with accelerating development. Referring to the business reformer award he received recently, Naidu said it will change the mood in the southern state and help attract investments. All the district collectors and senior officials gave a 'standing ovation' to Naidu for winning the award. Observing that the award was a result of collective effort, the CM said it resulted from the work of the ministers and from employees, starting from the chief secretary to village-level officials. Moreover, Naidu said the government was working by keeping people's satisfaction as the yardstick.