Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has said the YSRCP government has been providing pensions to over 66 lakh beneficiaries by spending over Rs 2000 crore a month without corruption or discrimination based on caste, religion, and political affiliation during his interaction with beneficiaries near Venkatachalampalli in Darsi on Monday morning. As part of his 11th day of Memantha Yatra, the Chief Minister interacted with the beneficiaries explaining the stark difference between the current YSRCP government and the previous TDP regime in disbursing the pensions. “In the TDP regime, only 39 lakh beneficiaries received Rs 1000 as a pension, but two months before the election they changed it to Rs 2000, but now we have not only increased the amount to Rs 3000 but extended it to 66.34 lakh eligible beneficiaries,” said Chief Minister Jagan.
“We are spending Rs. 2000 crore per month, which is Rs. 24000 crore per year. In the last five years, we have spent over Rs 90,000 crore on pensions, which is higher than the other states in the country. If we look at other states on their pension expenditure, Bihar is spending Rs 4,300 crore, Uttar Pradesh (Rs 5160 crore), Karnataka (Rs 4700 crore), Telangana (Rs 7,180 crore),” said Chief Minister Jagan. The Chief Minister also noted that his government has taken the volunteer system like nowhere else in the country and delivers welfare measures like pensions to the beneficiaries on their doorstep. “Chandrababu Naidu often says that he was Chief Minister for 14 years, but he never thought about you (people),” said Jagan to old-age pensioners.
“Before the election people will come up with a manifesto promising good governance. But the manifesto would be thrown in the dustbin post-election. But I can’t lie like Chandrababu and his alliance partners. If we promise something, it will be executed,” asserted the Chief Minister. “I should say what can be done instead of promising the impossible. There is no other state in the country who can compete with the YSRCP government in terms of providing welfare measures to the poor,” Jagan said. “The cost of Chandrababu’s promises is exceeding Rs 1.4 lakh crores on top of the current ongoing welfare measures in Andhra Pradesh. They are giving such assurances to deceive everyone just like before the 2014 election,” said Chief Minister Jagan.
