ANDHRA PRADESH

The Centre has given green signal for Srisailam-Egalapenta () ropeway project proposed by the State Government. The project will be taken up with a cost of Rs.400 crore.

Union Roadways and Surface Transport Ministry cleared the proposal on Thursday. The Centre has cleared 26 ropeway projects to be taken up in different states along with Srisailam ropeway project.

The state government picked up the location as ideal as Srisailam town is famous for its Sri Bramaramba Mallikarjuna temple and is one of the holy pilgrimage sites for Saivism and Shaktism sects of Hinduism. It is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in the state. Average pilgrims visiting the temples is around 18,000 to 26,000 per day and it would be around 50,000 to 55,000 people per day during peak season.

Th state had proposed a project to connect with Telangana. The proposed project site is well connected by road. The state government proposed to take up the construction of buildings at two ends, namely, Lower Terminal Point and Upper Terminal Point of Ropeway Systems for boarding and de-boarding of passengers.

A 13th-century temple was discovered on the outskirts of Kota Nemalapuri village ofRajupalemmandal in the district.

Alerted by locals, PamulapatiSrinath Reddy, an archaeologist and member of Indian Trust for Art, Culture and Heritage (Intach), visited the village and found the temple amidst bushes and debris.

He cleared the jungle with the help of locals and found the beautiful ancient structure in a ruined state.

He said that the temple must have been built in the 13th century and needed to be protected as heritage structure.

Major cities ofAndhra Pradesh-Vijayawada,Tirupatiand Visakhapatnam – continued their winning streak in Swachh Survekshan 2021.

Vijayawada emerged as the thirdcleanest cityin the country, while Vizag retained its ninth position from last year’s survey in the category of cities with more than 10 lakh Population.
Tirupati stood third place in the category of cities with a population of one to 10 lakh population. Other major cities that made their mark in the same category were Rajahmundry (41st rank), Kurnool (70), Kakinada (103) and Nellore (107).

In overall rankings (cities with more than one lakh population), Vijayawada occupied third place, Tirupati seventh place and Vizag 18th rank. These cities also got several individual Awards.

A new category, ‘Prerak Dauur Samman’, was introduced as part of the 2021 survey to classify cities on six indicators.

Cities were categorised as ‘platinum’, ‘gold’, ‘silver’, ‘bronze’, and ‘aspiring’, based on their performance on select indicators from the SS-2021 ‘Service Level Progress’. Tirupati was classified a ‘platinum’ city, alongside Indore, Surat, Central Delhi and Thane. Vijayawada and Rajahmundry have been categorised as ‘gold’ as per the survey. Kadapa, Kurnool and Madanapalle have made it to the ‘silver’ list.

Indore retained the top position as the cleanest city for a fifth consecutive year.

Andhra Pradeshhas decided to provide energy efficient housing facilities, including the adoption of Indo-Swiss building technology, in the nearly 30 lakh housing units being constructed across AP.

According to officials, the 30 lakh houses will come up on 71,811 acres distributed to the beneficiaries in Andhra Pradesh. The is spending about Rs.3,525 crore on layout development and Rs 32,900 crore on Infrastructure creation. The Indo-Swiss energy efficient building technology may help reduce temperature by at least 2 degrees inside the houses than the outside temperature comparing to conventional houses.

The is setting up about 10,000 YSR rural and urban Health clinics. While the existing primary healthcare centres are primarily functioning from the mandal headquarters, the health clinics are expected to take care of the health needs of the entire Population.

The village clinics have been attached to village secretariats, and each clinic covers a population of 2,000. Besides establishing these health clinics, the state government is spending Rs 16,203 crore to revamp government hospitals and medical colleges to strengthen public healthcare and Infrastructure. All the YSR village health clinics will be operational by the next Republic Day.

The village clinics will be linked with the PHCs through video conferencing. According to the health officials, the village clinics will also be tied up with the laboratories. Health records of the villagers will be available in the respective village clinics through Aarogyasri cards. These details can be accessed by the nearby PHC doctors visiting the village under family doctor concept, which in turn will be useful in diagnosing and treating the cardholder.

The Andhra Pradesh Education Department said that it has compiled details of children left orphaned by Covid for providing free education.

It said that it had identified 4,033 children, out of which 1,659 children are students of government schools, while 2,150 are studying in private schools. The orphans include 524 infants, according to the department.

The had ordered the Education Department to compile this information, following The Supreme Court directions that free education should be provided to the affected children.

It has also called for submission of monthly reports on the condition of children who have lost their parents to the pandemic.

The Covid-19 first wave has resulted in a decline of Rs 800 crore inhundi collectionsat Lord Venkateswara temple atTirumala.

In February, 2020,Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanamstrust board had approved a budget of Rs.3,310 crore for 2020-21 and pegged collections at Rs.1351 crore.

Due to lockdown, the temple was closed for worship for the first time in last 129 years.
The temple was opened in June 2020 with several curbs in line with Covid-19 guidelines, with impact on overall revenues including ticket collections, sale of prasadams, accommodation rentals and hundi collections.

As the 12-month period ended in March 2020, the Tirumala temple received Rs.545.95 crore in Hundi as against the estimate of Rs.1351 crore. But due to the second wave, the temple’s Hundi collections declined in the first quarter of 2021.