State Assembly Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao on Tuesday called for community participation to make the ‘Smart Village’ programme a success.
Speaking on the sidelines of laying the foundation stone for the compound wall of a school and inauguration of a community hall here, he said: “Let us practice politics only at the time of elections and work for development of villages for five years, setting the political differences aside.”
Lauding Kondepi MLA Dola Balaveeranjaneya Swamy for spearheading ‘Swatchh Karumanchi’ campaign, he said that it was his first in a series of visits to villages across the State to make them ‘smart’ ones, adding that he would visit each and every village on the invitation of local MLAs. Mr. Rao, a medical practitioner himself, explained that those without individual sanitary toilets unknowingly spent Rs 6,500 per year on an average to cure water-borne diseases, apart from another Rs 2,000 owing to absence from work.
Citing a survey, he said that lack of usable toilets in schools contributed to nearly 29 per cent of the total dropouts at the SSC level and for girls it stood at 70 per cent.
“It is our collective responsibility to provide the right ambiance to our children to excel in studies,” he said.
He appealed to the villagers to invite NRIs, industrialists and other prominent persons, who hailed from there, for their contributions for the overall development of the village. Expressing concern over depleting groundwater table and dwindling green cover, the Speaker said that villagers could collectively earn in the range between Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh through pisci-culture by rejuvenating the village tanks.
Lack of usable toilets in schools contributes to 29 p.c of the total dropouts and for girls it stands at 70 p.c.
Kodela Siva Prasada Rao,Assembly Speaker
