Amaravati, Dec 10 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday directed the officials to discuss with various banks and financial institutions to bring down the interest rates on loans.

Addressing ministers, secretaries and heads of departments conference, the Chief Minister said officials should initiate measures to save public money by reducing the interest rates, by which the state can save Rs 7000 crore on total loans.

He alleged that due to the damage to the AP brand image, several financial institutions increased the interest rates during the previous government’s regime, resulting in the wastage of public money.

Chandrababu Naidu claimed that the NDA government was able to save Rs 512 crore last year and Rs 1,000 crore so far this year through rescheduling of loans and discussions with banks and financial institutions.

Expressing concern over non-spending of Rs 1170 crore Central government funds by various departments, the Chief Minister said that the funds should be utilised by December 20, and the utilisation certificate should be sent to the central government for further sanction of funds.

He said Ministers should also take an active role in utilising Central funds for development works. He wanted all the departments to come under audit purview by March 2026 and asked ministers to speed up files’ clearance.

The Chief Minister said that he will review every three months on performance of various departments. He said officials should act immediately on the issues of farmers, crop prices, roads, employment generation, drinking water and the increase in prices of essential commodities to take remedial measures.

He asked what was wrong with changing business rules to speed up files’ clearance, as the constitution itself was amended several times for people’s benefit.

The CM said officials should use technology to improve the delivery of public services, and in the end, adopting of humanitarian angle is more important to achieve public satisfaction.

Stating that the NDA government is not going to increase power tariff this year, CM Naidu said efforts are on to reduce power purchase price to Rs 4 per unit from Rs 4.92 at present.

He said that the government is able to reestablish the brand image of Andhra Pradesh and attract huge investments, for which the success of the CII partnership summit at Visakhapatnam itself is the best example.

The Chief Minister said the state government is able to achieve 12.02 growth rate in the first quarter and 11.28 per cent growth in the second quarter of 2025-26, and set a target to achieve 17.11 per cent. He said that the government is focusing more on the irrigation sector and is able to store 944 tmc of water in various projects.

The Chief Minister said the state government is committed to the development of all the regions, and AP stands in the top place in the country with the highest number of 638 industrial parks. He said three economic zones, including Visakhapatnam with North Andhra and East Godavari districts, Amaravati with West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts and Tirupati with Nellore and Kurnool districts, will be developed.

The Chief Minister made it clear that all the government services will be made available online by January 15 and directed some departments which are lagging behind to improve their services.

–IANS

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