Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has unveiled a governance reset centred on reducing the financial strain on households, warning officials that welfare delivery must translate into visible savings for citizens in education, healthcare, housing and electricity.
On the second day of the District Collectors’ Conference at the Secretariat on Friday, Mr. Naidu pressed for faster grievance resolution, tougher administrative accountability, and accelerated housing and land reforms, asserting that government performance would be measured by how much economic relief reached ordinary families.
Signalling a shift towards tightly monitored, field-driven administration, Mr. Naidu told the Collectors that governance would now be judged not by announcements, but by measurable relief reaching households.
Reviewing welfare delivery systems, revenue administration and technology-led governance reforms, the Chief Minister said the government’s priority was to reduce public expenditure in critical sectors, while ensuring that welfare schemes reached every eligible beneficiary without delay. “People should get maximum benefit from government programmes. Awareness must be created so that every eligible citizen utilises welfare schemes effectively,” Mr. Naidu said.
Referring to recent improvements in government school enrolment, he said public confidence in State-run institutions was improving, and directed officials to further strengthen education and healthcare infrastructure so that dependence on expensive private services could be reduced.
Housing target
In a fillip to housing and land reforms, he set a target of constructing an additional 10 lakh houses by December 2027. He instructed officials to ensure that 2.5 lakh houses were ready for mass housewarming ceremonies by August 15 and another 2.38 lakh houses by December. He also reviewed house-site pattas and regularisation of settlements, directing revenue officials to accelerate long-pending land-related reforms.
The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction over sharp improvement in e-file clearance systems, stating that administrative processing timelines had come down from several days to a matter of hours because of intensified monitoring and technology integration. Reviewing AWARE systems and Data Lake initiatives, he said faster disposal of files was essential for efficient governance and accountability.
In a significant administrative reform, Mr. Naidu announced that every Friday would be observed as ‘Field Grievance Day’, with Collectors mandated to conduct grievance redress programmes directly in the Assembly constituencies, apart from regular Monday sessions at the Collectorate. He also proposed a Praja Darbar-style mechanism under the Public Grievance Redressal System, where officials and public representatives would jointly resolve complaints on the spot.
“Do not simply collect petitions and leave them in cars. Problems must be resolved,” Mr. Naidu told the officials. He directed the Collectors to visit at least one constituency four times every month as part of a statewide “goodwill mission” aimed at rebuilding public trust in governance.
The Chief Minister further said a special commission had been constituted to study backwardness among the BC communities and that future reservations in local bodies would be considered based on the panel’s recommendations.