- KR Bharat
- 2025-12-18
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday strongly defended the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for developing new medical colleges in the state, asserting that they would function as government institutions and deliver better services.
Addressing the fifth collectors’ conference at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister spoke on the politically sensitive issue of establishing 10 medical colleges under the PPP model, a move opposed by the YS Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party. Naidu said these 10 colleges were among the 17 medical colleges sanctioned by the Centre during the previous YSRCP government.
“Some people are spreading the false narrative that medical colleges are being privatised. Though they are being constructed under the PPP model, they will operate as government medical colleges. Services will be more efficient under this model,” Naidu said.
The Chief Minister clarified that all rules and regulations governing these institutions would be framed by the state government. He added that 70 per cent of the services offered by these colleges would be covered under the NTR Vaidya Seva welfare health scheme and that the number of medical seats had also been increased.
Pointing out that even the Centre was implementing several projects through the PPP route, Naidu said he was not afraid of criticism and stressed the need to present facts transparently to the public.
Launching a sharp attack on the previous YSRCP government, the Chief Minister alleged that ₹500 crore was spent on the “Rushikonda Palace” in Visakhapatnam, which, he claimed, could have otherwise funded two medical colleges.
“The previous government made several mistakes. It was not even in a position to pay salaries and resorted to borrowing at very high interest rates, ranging from 13 to 14 per cent, creating long-term financial stress,” Naidu said while addressing collectors from all 26 districts.
The Chief Minister also warned officials against bureaucratic inefficiency, particularly in the Revenue Department. He said misuse of loopholes in the system had led to a situation where work was being neglected, adding that the problem was most severe in the Revenue Department.
Emphasising public satisfaction as the key metric of governance, Naidu urged district collectors to ensure speedy delivery of government services and effective grievance redressal. “Numbers alone will not serve the purpose. What matters is satisfaction at the grassroots level,” he said.
Calling district collectors the “ambassadors of the government”, the Chief Minister expressed satisfaction over achieving a 92 per cent satisfaction rate in pension disbursal. He also directed officials to adopt data-driven governance for better decision-making.
Highlighting future governance reforms, Naidu announced that blockchain technology would be introduced in the Revenue Department to ensure accountability at every level. He set a deadline of January 2026 to make all government files and services fully online and instructed officials to strengthen the ‘data lake’ system for real-time information.
The Chief Minister added that proactive governance had attracted global interest, revealing that Google had come forward to establish an Artificial Intelligence data centre in Visakhapatnam.
