PRAKASAM: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy unveiled the bronze statues of his father, former Chief Minister Dr. YS Rajashekar Reddy, and former Darsi MLA Buchepalli Subba Reddy at Chimakurthi in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, on Wednesday and stated that great leaders will stay in the hearts of people forever.
Addressing the public gathering, the Chief Minister reminisced about the welfare schemes like free power to farmers, fee reimbursement, and Aarogyasri that were implemented during the YSR regime and stated that the current government had also fulfilled 95 percent of the promises mentioned in the manifesto in the last three years. After unveiling the statues of YSR and Buchepalli Subba Reddy, he announced that Ambedkar's statue will also be unveiled in Vijayawada on April 14.

On this occasion, the Chief Minister announced that a slab system will be implemented to boost the granite industry, where Rs 27,000 will be provided each month to Single-blade processing units and Rs 54,000 per month for Multi-blade processing units in Prakasam District which purifies raw granite up to 22 cubic meters. For the processing units in Srikakulam and Rayalaseema regions, Rs 22,000 and Rs 44,000 will be given for Single and Multi-blade granite processing units. He said that the government had already issued GO in this regard aiming to benefit over 7,000 units, as promised during padayatra. He said that the slab system was brought during the YSR rule, but Chandrababu Naidu had withdrawn the initiative in 2016 pushing the units into danger.

Besides this, the Chief Minister also announced to reduce Rs 2 per unit in power bills to small granite units, from the existing tariff of Rs 6.3 and Rs 6.7 per unit. With both slab system and reduction in power bills, an amount of Rs 350 crore will be borne by the State government every year.
Speaking of the Veligonda Project, he said that YS Rajashekar Reddy had initiated the project and completed 11.58 km works of the first tunnel which is at a stretch of 18.8 km, and completed 8.74 km of the second tunnel of 118.78 km stretch. Between 2014-2019, Chandrababu Naidu’s government had only completed 4.33 km and 2.35 km of work in both tunnels, he said adding that the current government had completed the construction of the first tunnel and assured to complete the second tunnel by September 2023. He said that he would go to elections only after inaugurating the Veligonda Project.

Also, he promised to grant Rs 20 crore for the construction of a new Zilla Parishad building in Chimakurthi and make Mogigundla pond in Thullur Mandal a mini reservoir, and name it after Buchepalli Subba Reddy Reservoir. Minister Audimulapu Suresh, MLAs Balineni Srinivas Reddy, TJR Sudhakar Babu, Zilla Parishad Chairperson Buchepalli Venkayamma, former Darsi MLA Buchepalli Sivaprasad Reddy, and other leaders were present.

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