Jagan should act on myriad issues to prove himself

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy seems to be getting adjusted to his new role.

Even as he tries to develop a grasp over the administration while understanding the challenges before of him, there are several developmental issues that confront him too.

Though he is taking up the pending issues of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 at his own pace, he should also look at the fate of the defence projects that were promised but not materialised. Unless a personal interest is taken by the new Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, none of these would come up any sooner.

The Vice President, M Venakaiah Naidu, has laid most of the foundation stones for the same. Though he keeps insisting on the completion with the Centre, somehow, there seems to be some lacunae which is causing delay in the completion of the projects.

In fact, in his recent interaction with Rajnath Singh, the Vice President advised the Minister to take a personal interest in expediting the defence projects in Andhra Pradesh. He also wanted the Minister to remove impediments, if any, in the execution of the projects.

Among those projects that were promised and still pending so far are BEL's Advanced Night Vision Devices Factory at Nimmakuru in Krishna district. The factory seeks to cater to the futuristic requirements for night vision devices with an investment of about Rs 300 crore.

Apart from Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu was also present at the foundation stone laying ceremony. BEL's Defence Systems Integration Complex at Palasamudram in Anantapur district also is pending.

The state-of-the-art facility will cater to the needs of missile and weapon systems manufacturing for the ongoing and upcoming missile programmes. The foundation stone for this one was laid, again by M Venkaiah Naidu and the then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.

Other projects under consideration include Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited's Greenfield Aluminium Alloy Production Plant at Bodduvaripalem in Nellore district, Missile Testing Facility at Nagayalanka in Krishna District, Naval Alternate Operating Base (NAOB) at Rambilli near Visakhapatnam and Naval Air Station at Bobbili in Vizianagaram district.

It is not even a month since the new Chief Minister has taken over. There is a long list of pending issues. Some of them are pressing ones and the others could perhaps wait. Jagan needs to do a careful calibration of the priorities ahead of him. Haste does not yield the required result.

In his desire to prove himself as a man of word, he is making all sorts of announcements with regard to the promises he has made in his election manifesto. Special Category Status is quite important for the State, but as he himself has put it, he may have to keep pleading for the same for a long time.

The BJP will be in no mood to oblige him without looking at the political gain for it. Jagan Reddy should keep this in mind and take up the issue of projects which not only provide jobs to the youth, but also pave way for the growth of AP.