Visakhapatnam:
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday launched 'Praja Patham' (on people's path), a mass contact programme, at Nakkapalli village in the district.
"Praja Patham is an interface between the people, their elected representatives and a team of public servants to address the problems concerning drinking water, MNREGA, power and rural employment, among others," said Reddy.
The programme will be held till May 5, covering around 22,888 villages and 5,000 municipal wards in the state.
Speaking to reporters after the inaugurating the programme, Reddy said his government would increase the minimum wage of workers to Rs 137 a day from Rs 121 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNERGA) and is also planning incentives to the workers during summer.
The state government has also released Rs 45 crore to all districts for providing drinking water and would release another Rs 60 crore for the same, the Chief Minister said.
He also informed that the Congress government would take all necessary steps to run medical emergency services in the state.
Observing that the prolonged strike last year in support of a separate Telangana state and lack of adequate rains had hit power generation hard, Reddy said the government was trying to meet the power demand by purchasing it from other states.
He said government would take decision on tenders for multi-purpose Polavaram irrigation project within two days.