Expressing happiness over the double digit economic growth rate achieved by his government over the last two years, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said the state could now tide over the crisis caused by its bifurcation three years ago.
"We are now in a position to tide over the crisis (caused by the bifurcation). Now, my aim is to make Andhra the number one state in all fields, not only in the country but also in the world," he said.
Naidu was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day conference of district collectors here.
"We faced many crises after the bifurcation of the state in June, 2014. Despite that, we focused on welfare and development," he said.
While the country's economic growth rate remained stagnant (about five per cent) over the last two years, Andhra was able to achieve a double digit growth in the Gross State Domestic Product, touching 10.99 per cent (2015-16), 11.6 per cent (2016-17) and 11.72 per cent in the first quarter of this year, the chief minister pointed out.
"We are now at the number two position in the country. This year (2017-18), our target is to achieve a 15-per cent growth rate. There is scope for it and I am confident that we can achieve it," he added.
Noting that according to an internal survey, only 58 per cent of the state's population was satisfied with his government's performance, Naidu asked the officials to strive to improve the figure to at least 80 per cent.
"The number of grievances being reported by the public is less, but there is still some sort of a dissatisfaction, also because of political causes. The People First grievance redressal forum is a deadly weapon with which we can strive to eliminate the dissatisfaction of the people," he said.
Observing that certain "outdated laws" were causing problems, he said such laws had to be "revisited" and scrapped.
"We have set seven missions (for growth) but they have not taken off properly. A coordinated effort is required to make them effective," the chief minister said.
State Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said though the 11.72 per cent economic growth was impressive, certain imbalances still remained.
"There are imbalances in the agriculture sector, industries and also in the services sector. There is, in fact, no significant growth in the industrial sector, though the investment climate in the state is good. This sector needs improvement," he noted.
Yanamala also stressed on the need for increased urbanisation so as to spur growth in services.
Basic infrastructure in urban areas needed improvement to increase urbanisation and enhance growth in the service sector, he added.
Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) K E Krishna Murthy, Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar, Chief Commissioner of Land Administration Anil Chandra Punetha and others spoke on the occasion.
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