YSR Congress Party chief and Leader of the Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today wrote an open letter to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday blaming the latter for plight of the people of the State as a result of the government’s inaction and misrule.
In the letter, Jagan stated that the people were being forced to sell their lands in order to pay for health and education. Jagan wanted to know whether people-friendly programs like Aarogyasri were being diluted intentionally or have weakened due to the incompetence of the government.
Aarogyasri scheme that was introduced by late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was renamed as ‘NTR Aaroyga Seva’ after Chandrababu came to power. He pointed out that when experts estimated the budget requirement for the Health scheme at Rs 910.77 crore, the AP government allocated only Rs 529.23 crore. When the budget was presented in March, the mounting liabilities under the scheme have risen Rs 395.69 crore, he said. He also asked the Chief Minister to look into the problems being faced by heart patients, cancer, multiple fractures and kidney patients. The network hospitals were refusing treatment to patients enrolled in the scheme as they have not been paid for the last six to nine months. Jagan demanded that the AP government immediately address the growing concerns about the heath scheme and warned that they would protest at the district collectorates on December 9. (NSS)