Palle Panduga 3.0, an Andhra Pradesh government programme involving rural development works worth ₹11,085 crore, will be launched from Ramapuram village in Varikuntapadu mandal of Udayagiri constituency on September 29, Nellore district collector Himanshu Shukla said. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan are scheduled to formally launch the programme.
The programme will focus on rural infrastructure while supporting agriculture, dairy and horticulture, according to the collector. Its largest components are 9,500 km of bituminous roads at a cost of ₹7,550 crore and 6,000 km of cement-concrete roads at ₹2,700 crore.
The package also includes 22,000 mini Gokulams, or cattle sheds, at ₹300 crore; horticulture plantations across 50,000 acres at ₹225 crore; 1,000 km of magic drains at ₹110 crore; and bus shelters, gram panchayat buildings and community spaces at ₹200 crore.
The Centre is expected to contribute ₹5,391 crore of the total allocation, while the State will provide ₹5,694 crore. The remaining funding will also be mobilised through VB-G RAM G, the Global Horticulture Hub, NABARD, SASKI and other sources, the collector said.
The road and drainage components will form the core of the programme’s village-level infrastructure work. The planned roads are intended to improve connectivity within rural settlements, while the drains, bus shelters and community facilities are designed to address basic public infrastructure requirements. The programme also links physical works with farm, dairy and horticulture-related activities.
The announcement builds on two earlier phases of Palle Panduga. The collector said Palle Panduga 1.0 resulted in 4,000 km of cement-concrete roads, 22,514 cattle sheds, 21,000 farm ponds and horticulture plantations covering 64,000 acres.
Under Palle Panduga 2.0, works included 2,500 km of cement-concrete roads, 8,300 km of bituminous roads, 15,750 cattle sheds, 15,500 cattle water troughs, 86,000 farm ponds, 82,000 individual soak pits and 32 km of magic drains.
The third phase is intended to further improve rural amenities and provide support to farming, dairy and horticulture sectors, Shukla said. The formal launch at Ramapuram on September 29 is the next stated milestone for the programme.
