Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu insists on adopting best practices in governance

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has expressed confidence that the State can achieve 17.11% growth rate, with focus on optimum utilisation of water resources, employment generation, increasing agriculture productivity through adoption of modern technologies wherever required, expanding manufacturing, and realising the full potential of the fisheries sector.

Best practices in governance should be implemented from the district level to provide better administration so that people would be satisfied, Mr. Naidu exhorted the officials while delivering the inaugural speech at the two-day Collectors’ conference that began at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

Proper planning was essential, he said, and noted that Andhra Pradesh, which used to compete with Telangana, had fallen to the last position in South India due to the previous government’s policies.s

Mr. Naidu further said that “speed of delivering governance” was crucial, and the people’s representatives play a significant role in realising the objectives.

He said feedback was being obtained from the public, and unless the issues raised by them were promptly sorted out and their problems solved, the government would not be able to make meaningful progress.

The government was constantly monitoring the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to make necessary course corrections, the Chief Minister noted, suggesting that this would be possible only when officials from the grassroots level up to the Collectors discharged their duties effectively.

Mr. Naidu stressed the need for a proper work culture in the government, wherein the officials should clear the files promptly so that the administration would be smooth. A situation in which files were forwarded to others without resolving them was prevalent in the Revenue Department. This should change, as otherwise people would face difficulties, he said, and ordered that decisions be taken through data-driven governance.

The government revived several Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) that had become defunct due to the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government’s negligence, Mr. Naidu said. Central funds given for CSS that remained unspent should be spent by January 15, 2026.

Of the ₹24,513 crore sanctioned for various CSS, ₹6,252 crore was not spent. Notably, only 38% of funds under the PMAY were expended. The Centre would provide an additional ₹5,000 crore to ₹6,000 crore upon full utilisation of the funds under existing schemes, the Chief Minister said, calling upon the Collectors to act as the “government’s ambassadors” and earn good name for it.

Mr. Naidu said the government gave equal importance to development and welfare, and fulfilled all major promises given to the people in the run-up to the 2024 elections. Investments worth ₹11.20 lakh crore were secured at the CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam last month as the State’s brand image had been resurrected by the coalition government, he asserted.

PPP model

Asserting that the medical colleges being built under the PPP model would function as government colleges and be regulated by the government, the Chief Minister said it was wrong to say that these colleges were in the process of being privatised.

“The YSRCP government had mobilised loans at high interest rates (up to 14%), thereby causing tremendous strain on the State’s finances. We are now easing that burden by rescheduling the loans,” Mr. Naidu pointed out.

Further, he called for preparation of short, medium (five years) and long-term (10 to 15 years) plans for the agriculture sector covering three seasons, and major investments in horticulture for which there was tremendous potential in the Rayalaseema region.

Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan, Ministers N. Lokesh, A. Satya Prasad, K. Atchannaidu, N.Md. Farooq and K. Ravindra, Chief Secretary K. Vijayanand, and Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta were among those present.