"Pension hike, skill census, Anna Canteens": Chandrababu Naidu signs on key decisions on first day of assuming office

Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) [India], June 13 (ANI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has signed five important files on Mega DSC, hiking pension, initiating skill census, resuming 'Anna Canteens'- all of which were promised by him in the run-up to the Assembly elections in the state, on the first day of assuming office.
Chandrababu Naidu signed the Mega DSC which aims to provide 16,347 jobs.
Naidu also approved the pension hike from Rs 3,000 per month to Rs 4,000 per month. The last three months' additional money will be given to the beneficiaries. On July 1 the beneficiaries are going to receive a total of Rs 7000.
The Chief Minister initiated the skill census in the state. This futuristic census will be a great data asset for the government to help in generating the promised number of 20 lakh jobs.
Naidu also resumed 'Anna Canteens' in the state for the needy which were earlier discontinued by the YSRCP government.
Naidu had also abolished the Andhra Pradesh Land Titling Act of 2023, which limited the ownership rights of the land owners.
Naidu assumed the charge in the State Secretariat in Amaravati day after taking oath as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Several leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were present when Naidu took charge.
Naidu also offered prayers at the secretariat office before assuming charge as the Chief Minister.
Earlier in the day, CM Naidu along with his family offered prayers at Tirupati Balaji temple in Tirumala.
Naidu also hit out at the former YSRCP government for commercializing the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam during his visit to the temple after taking oath on Wednesday.
"They have commercialized the TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam). Once you're on hill top, you should feel pure, prasadam should be neat, and rates shouldn't be increased. Darshan tickets shouldn't be sold in the black market," Naidu said speaking to reporters on Thursday.
Accusing the former government of turning the holy place into a center for marijuana, liquor and non-vegetarian food, Naidu said, "They have turned this place to worst, they have made it a center for marijuana, liquor and non-veg."
The Chief Minister also questioned the Jagan Mohan Reddy government for allocating posts as per his wishes and to influence court cases.
"Will you sell Venkateshwara Swamy for your benefit? You give posts as per your wishes! You give posts to influence your court cases!" Naidu said.
He reached Tirumala on Wednesday evening, where he received a warm welcome from the temple authorities. During the visit, the Chief Minister was accompanied by his wife Nara Bhuvaneshwari, son and state minister Nara Lokesh, Lokesh's wife Nara Brahmani, and their son Devansh.
Naidu was sworn in as the 18th CM of Andhra Pradesh in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at an event in Vijayawada on Wednesday.
The 24-member cabinet also took the oath of office on Wednesday along with the Chief Minister. This includes MLAs of the Telugu Desam Party, Janasena Party and BJP. Andhra Governor S Abdul Nazeer administered the oath of office to ministers.
The TDP MLAs who were sworn in include Nara Lokesh, Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, Nimmala Ramanaidu, NMD Farooq, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Payyavula Kesav, Kollu Ravindra, Ponguru Narayana, Vangalapudi Anita, Anagani Satya Prasad, Kolusu Parthasaradhi, Kola Balaveeranjaneya Swamy, Gottipati Ravi, Gummadi Sandhyarani, BC Janardhan Reddy, TG Bharath, S Savitha, Vasamsetty Subhash, Kondapalli Srinivas and Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy.
Konidela Pawan Kalyan, Nadendla Manohar and Kandula Durgesh took oath as ministers representing the Janasena Party, while Satya Kumar Yadav is the lone MLA from BJP who was sworn in as minister in the Naidu cabinet.
This is the fourth time that Naidu is assuming charge as Andhra Chief Minister and the second time after the bi-furcation in 2014. Naidu became chief minister first in 1995, before the Andhra bifurcation and he led the state until 2004 for nine consecutive years. The TDP supremo returned as the chief minister of the bifurcated Andhra in 2014 and served until 2019.
Naidu had led the TDP- BJP-Janasena National Democratic Alliance to a landslide victory in the Assembly as well as parliamentary elections.
The TDP holds the majority in Andhra Pradesh's 175-member assembly with 135 MLAs, while its allies, the Janasena Party, has 21 and BJP has eight. The opposition YSR Congress Party was confined to 11. (ANI)