The elected representatives and officials of Krishna district have started preparations for ‘Prajapatham', the mass contact programme to know the problems of people, from April 19.
A review meeting chaired by district in-charge Minister P. Ramachandra Reddy on Monday set the tone for the programme that seeks to instantly solve problems relating to basic amenities like drinking water and power supply in villages.
Mr. Reddy asked the officials to get a first hand account of the problems confronting the people and initiate effective measures to address them during the programme.
The Minister pointed out that while issues like drinking water and electricity were likely to take centre stage, the officials must also identify other concerns of the villagers that could be taken up under the drive. In view of the prevailing drought conditions in the district, funds to the tune of Rs. 4 crore had been spent under the constituency development fund, besides allocation of an additional Rs. 4 crore for the purpose. The officials must closely monitor and ensure proper use of Rs. 3.5 crores released for transportation of water to tail-end villages that face acute water scarcity. Proper implementation of employment guarantee scheme and uninterrupted power supply to agriculture sector were other crucial areas that were to be brought under official scrutiny. The Minister asked the officials to enlighten people in villages about the Arogyasri programme, especially by removing the misconception that it was meant to benefit only the corporate hospitals.
The Minister gave the officials a week's time to address problems of street-lighting and drinking water supply through public taps in villages, besides taking up a final round of scrutiny to weed out bogus ration cards and distribution of cards to the genuine beneficiaries. He said as part of the fifth phase of land distribution, 1,550 acres of land would be given away to beneficiaries on April 14 and 15 and it was for the officials of the Revenue Department to ensure distribution of only arable land to the beneficiaries. Minister for Animal Husbandry K. Parthasarathy said coordination among officials of various departments was essential for success of the prestigious drive.
Collector Peeyush Kumar said though the ground water level was not very encouraging, the officials must ensure measures to avoid water woes in villages.
Pointing out that a special officer and a team of officials had been appointed for every constituency, he said focus would be on issues like drinking water, electricity, medical and health facilities, housing and employment schemes.
Zilla Parishad chairman K. Nageswara Rao, Municipal Commissioner G. Ravi Babu, Mayor M.V. Ratna Bindu, MLAs Malladi Vishnu (Vijayawada Central), Jogi Ramesh (Pedana), D.Y. Das (Pamarru) and D. Padmajyothi (Tiruvuru) also spoke.
