Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy advised the officials of the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (PR&RD) Department to solve water scarcity in villages in the next five years by connecting all tanks to feeder channels through canals. This would be useful, especially in Anantapur and Kadapa districts, he said, calling for an action plan for it.
He also ordered the construction of Rythu Bharosa Kendras, village secretariats, digital libraries and village clinics to be completed at the earliest.
At a review meeting on the functioning of the PR&RD Department on Monday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the government faced a lot of difficulties due to the pendency of bills for works executed during the TDP regime but they were cleared by the present dispensation in spite of the constraints keeping in view the priority attached by it to the development of villages.
He also wanted the bills related to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to be uploaded and also the payments made promptly. If necessary, an official should be deputed to Delhi to exclusively deal with any issues that might crop up in the sanction of funds to the State for the works done.
Borewells
The Chief Minister said a borewell should be dug in each Assembly constituency under the ‘YSR Jalakala’ scheme and told the officials to ensure that every farmer owning below five acres of land had borewells dug in their holdings free of cost. Only drilling would be done without any charge for the farmers having five to 10 acres.
He directed that road works in villages should be commenced by May 20 and there should be no potholes at all.
Waste management
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed the officials to display the photos of the works done under Nadu-Nedu in the education, healthcare and road sectors at the village and ward secretariats. He said priority should be given to the provision of drinking water facilities in the Jagananna colonies under the Jal Jeevan Mission, and to focus on the safe disposal of solid waste in rural areas. Villages should have a proper solid waste management plan by October 2.
Officials told the Chief Minister that two crore dustbins were being readied for distribution in villages by the above date to facilitate collection of garbage at the doorstep.
Liquid waste management should be done in a systematic way in 13,000 villages, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
The officials said 46 liquid waste treatment plants were planned to be set up and later 632 de-sledging machines would be purchased.
Steps should be taken to solve the problem of salinity of drinking water in East and West Godavari districts, fluorosis in Uddhanam and contamination of water with uranium in Kadapa district, the Chief Minister said.
Deputy Chief Minister and PR&RD Minister B. Mutyala Naidu, Principal Secretary (PR&RD) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi and Commissioner K. Sasidhar and Special Commissioner Shanti Priya Pandey were among those present.
