AP Governor ESL Narasimhan appeals people to build `Swarnandhra Pradesh`

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan on Tuesday outlined the government's vision to eliminate social and economic disparities in the society, leading to a healthy, clean, green, technologically-advanced state and build 'Swarnandhra Pradesh'.

Narasimhan hoisted the national flag here on the 67th Republic Day celebrations and took review of the parade and march past.

He said Andhra Pradesh has achieved 11.77 per cent growth in the first half of the current fiscal against the national average of 7.2 per cent, and it has resulted in Rs 4.70 lakh crore investments coming in the state.

"The guiding principles of my state are sustainable development and inclusive growth," he said.

AP has been ranked as second by the World Bank in ease of doing business, adding that it has also become the first state in linking the rivers as part of the vision to transform the state as "drought-free".

He said the Government is implementing many welfare measures to improve the quality of life of the poor and disadvantaged families.

"AP now turns as an educational hub with the setting up of many national institutions like IIM, IIT, NIT," the Governor said.

Narasimhan lauded the role of patriots, freedom fighters, literates, people's representatives for the growth and prosperity of Telugu people in particular and the state in general.

"By remembering all those sacrificed and struggled leaders, we will continue our development and welfare schemes and programmes in the state. We should follow the foot steps of our patriots and also as responsible citizens to work hard to achieve our vision 'Swarnandhra Pradesh'," he said.

In Visakhapatnam, the Republic Day celebrations were held at the Vizag Steel Plant, the corporate entity of Rastriya Ispat Nigam Ltd where chairman and managing director, P Madhusudan unfurled the National Flag.

He observed that some of the crucial areas to enhance the performance in 2016 include increasing volume of operations with right product mix and higher percentage of value added steels, harnessing to the fullest potential technological interventions such as Pulverized Coal Injection (PCI) in Blast Furnaces, green initiatives.

In Rajahmundry, celebrations were held at ONGC complex. Executive Director, ONGC of Rajahmundry Asset, Debasis Sanyal exhorted the employees to rededicate themselves to the vision of freedom fighters and double their efforts to realise the mission of Prime Minister of reducing the crude imports by 10 per cent by 2022.

"With the dedicated efforts of employees, Rajahmundry asset has been maintaining the production of 800 tons of oil per day and 18.5 lakh cubic metres of gas per day," he said.