Coffers dry, task cut out for TDP supremo Naidu to deliver on promises

TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu who is set to take the reins of power in Andhra Pradesh shortly will have the daunting task of making bleak coffers ring to fulfill the "Super Six" that his party promised during the run-up to the recently concluded Assembly polls. Naidu is scheduled to be sworn in as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on June 12. As a precursor to his journey of financial challenges, Naidu needs over Rs 4,500 crore to disburse social pensions to about 65 lakh beneficiaries by July 1. As part of his "Super Six", Naidu promised to hike the monthly pension to Rs 4,000 from the existing Rs 3,000 along with a backlog of Rs 3,000 (Rs 1,000 for April, May and June) from July. All together it would cost the exchequer Rs 4,500 crore in July, besides salaries to employees and pensioners which is pegged at another Rs 6,000 crore. The new TDP government will have to mop up over Rs 10,000 crore to fulfill the financial requirements for July, a retired senior bureaucrat ...