They adopt village, forget later

Adilabad: People’s representatives, who adopt villages under the Union government-sponsored Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana to ensure rural development, are conveniently forgetting afterwards. As a result, the implementation of the scheme in the district is so poor that fruits of development are yet to trickle down to the grassroots level in spite of launching the village adoption scheme by the Centre.

For instance, Minister for Forests Jogu Ramanna adopted Yapalguda in Adilabad district but problems of the village persisted. Drinking water and sanitation problems remained unsolved and construction of individual toilets is yet to be fully accomplished. Endowments Minister Indrakaran Reddy adopted Yellapalli in Nirmal mandal. The condition of the internal roads in the village is worse. “In spite of our demand for release funds to lay CC roads, funds are not trickling in,” they said.

Criticism against Indrakaran Reddy is that the minister starts every development programme from the village but never executes them to take them to logical conclusion. Not a single double-bedroom house has been built and individual toilet scheme is not shedding the under execution tag, they said.

Gudem village on the banks of River Godavari, which was adopted by MP Balka Suman, is reeling under drinking water shortage. Sanitation is a casualty here. Drain water spills onto the roads. A shower of rain is sufficient to make the village roads slushy. The villagers accuse the MP of not doing anything significant for the village development barring distribution of garbage bins to dispose of the waste among villagers under the aegis of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited.

Lok Sabha member from Adilabad Nagesh adopted Patnapur in Boath mandal. The village has no ‘pucca’ building to house panchayat office, Anganwadi centre and the primary health centre. There are four colonies in the village. There are no ‘pucca’ roads in them. The villagers allege that the minister has not been releasing funds for development of the village roads. They also allege that Nagesh visits the adopted village very rarely pending resolution of the problems.

Talamadugu residents have been expressing impatience over the Boath MLA Rathod Bapu Rao who is not bothered to resolve even minor problems. The PHC here has no medical officer. Residents say that their pleas to the MLA for appointing a medical officer fell on the deaf ears. Internal roads and drinking water problem in the Dalit colony are some of the irritants in the village. Khanapur legislator Rekha Shyam adopted Luxettipet village in Utnoor mandal.

The village has no ‘pucca’ road. People need to trek long distances from the village to catch some means of transport. Pleas for road communication facilities to the village are met with negative result. The remote village has no ‘pucca’ internal roads. The villages direct their ire against the MLA for adopting dilly-dallying tactics in resolving their problems. They point out that the drinking water shortage is so severe in the summer. They have been requesting the MLA for immediate tiding over of drinking water crisis.

Complaint against Asifabad MLA Kova Lakshmi is that she is insensitive to the request of her adopted village–Jainur–to appoint a regular medical officer to the PHC. There is no significant allocation of funds for village development. Barring development of a blue print, nothing has been accomplished in terms of development, the villagers allege.

Government whip Nallala Odelu adopted Chirrakunta in Mandamarri. The villagers have been seething with anger against Odelu for not showing his face to the villagers upon adopting the village. Sirpur Kagaznagar legislator Koneru Konappa adopted Bodapalli in Kagaznagar mandal. The pleas for solving drinking water crisis and construction of a compound wall to the government school met with no response from the MLA. The fate of internal roads and drainages in the village did not change.

Bellampally MLA Durgam Chinnayya adopted Budhkalan village. The common refrain against the MLA from the villagers is that the MLA is bothered to solve the drinking water problem in spite of the repeated pleas to him for the same. Mancheriyal MLA Diwakar Rao adopted Korivichalma in Dandepalli mandal without significantly developing the village. Mudhole legislator Vithal Reddy was instrumental in only nominal development of his adopted Pardy village in Kubeer mandal of the district. The villagers see no improvement in their drinking water problem and condition of the village roads.