Mahatma Gandhi's dream of village sovereignty realised: Indrakaran Reddy

Nirmal: Mahatma Gandhi's dream for village sovereignty has been realised with the immense progress by the villages, stated Forest and Environment Minister Allola Indrakaran Reddy. He formally launched Palle Pragathi second phase programme at Sirgapur village under Dilawarpur mandal in Nirmal district on Thursday.

Earlier, he planted saplings at gram panchayat office. Later, participating at a public meeting, the Minister said the overall appearance of villages has been changed with the 30-day action plan conducted in September last year. The State government has been releasing Rs 339 crores every month to village panchayats. Every village was cleaned and developed full of greenery, hygienic and sanitation.

The Minister said the second phase will be conducted from Thursday to January 11. In these ten days, buildings, cattle houses in dilapidated condition, bushes, useless wells and borewells will be demolished and potholes will be filled with debris, he added. To avoid spread of diseases, mosquito repellent should be sprayed in villages, trash should be cleaned every day, sanitation should be maintained in hospitals, schools and offices. He called upon the people to plant saplings in every house and on both sides of the road and to protect them.

Minister Reddy reminded that due to non-availability of oxygen in New Delhi, the government is purchasing oxyzen for government schools by spending cores of rupees. To avoid such situation here, the government is spending crores of rupees on Haritha Haram, plantation programme, for the welfare of future generations. As RO water plants water could damage the people's health, the government is providing fresh drinking water to all households through Mission Bhagiratha scheme and people should utilise this, he said.

For the welfare of poor and elderly people, the State government is giving Shadi Mubarak, Kalyanalakshmi, KCR Kits and Asara pensions. With Rythu Bima and Rythu Bandhu schemes, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao wants to develop villages with green cover and sanitation.

Zilla Parishad Chairperson Korripelli Vijayalakshmi said government officers and public representatives should work in coordination to develop the villages. She called upon the people to construct individual toilets and to maintain sanitation and to avoid usage plastic and make the Palle Pragathi a grand success.

Joint Collector A Bhaskar Rao, FACS Chairman Ramkishan Reddy, MPP Chinna Reddy, mandal president Bapu Rao, ZP Copt member Subhash Rao, ZP CEO Sudheer, DPO Srinivas, mandal special officer Ramesh and village sarpanch Gangadhar and others were present.