Amaravati, Oct 18 : The Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday announced chairpersons for 56 corporations, set up for the development of backward classes. With 50 per cent reservation provided to women, 29 corporations will be headed by women chairpersons. In addition to this, the state government also appointed 12 directors for each corporation representing all the 13 districts. Minister for Backward Class Welfare, Ch Venugopala Krishna said that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government is committed to development of backward classes. He said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy undertook the initiative of setting up corporations for 56 backward class communities to focus on their all-round development. "The Chief Minister firmly believes that BCs are backbone classes and not backward classes. As promised during elections to provide separate corporations for every community to give equal political prominence, the Chief Minister has stood by it and brought it into reality," he said. The minister said after a careful study, out of 138 castes, 56 castes with over 30,000 population were finalised to have separate corporations. Funds will be allocated to the corporations and the people will be receiving more benefits. Reiterating that the state government prioritises welfare of the backward classes and strives for the uplift, Minister for Municipal Administration, Botsa Satyanarayana said that this is first of its kind initiative taken up by any state in the country, providing an equal platform for every backward class community. Slamming opposition TDP leaders for creating controversies over this novel initiative, he alleged that the previous government failed to deliver the promises made to BCs and never bothered about them while in power, besides using them as a vote bank for political gains. "It is well known that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy government gives the highest priority to BCs in every welfare scheme and stood by every promise made to the BCs," he added. Ministers Dharmana Krishnadas, Anil Kumar Yadav, Ch Venugopala Krishna, Shankar Narayana, and MP Mopidevi Venkataramana were also present on the occasion. /IANS