Last Days At Office: Naidu Working For AP!

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s tenure will be ending on August 10th and with hardly two weeks away, he is working on Andhra Pradesh Bifurcation Act. In the last couple of days, Venkaiah Naidu called a couple of union ministers and enquired about the progress of various projects that are being undertaken by the government of India.

As part of the AP bifurcation Act, the GoI’s public sector project, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) costing Rs 750 crore in sprawling 1,200 acres was announced in 2015. But the project’s progress is not moving ahead as it is anticipated. Regarding the BEL project, Naidu called on Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and asked him to expedite the works.

Venkaiah also probed about the Defense system integration complex. Later the Vice President Naidu met Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and urged her to release funds to AP based on its requirement.

Union Minister for Coal and Mines, Pralhad Joshi also met Venkaiah Naidu and in this meeting the Vice President sort the details of Utkarsha Aluminum Dhatu Nigam Ltd (UADNL), a joint venture firm of Nalco and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (Midhani). This high-end aluminum alloy production plant was planned to set up at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh.

Beside these three projects, Venkaiah also reached out to several other union ministers and discussed the pending and new projects that were promised to AP in the Bifurcation Act. The VP Secretariat released a statement that Venkaiah Naidu is following up with all the projects related to AP and ensuring that the proposed and pending projects may catch up with the pace of progress.

In Modi’s first term, Venkaiah was instrumental in getting many projects to AP and now as Vice President, he is trying to do his best with his term nearing a completion.