Warangal Urban district with 11 mandals was carved out of the erstwhile Warangal district. It has a population of 11.5 lakh spread across a geographical area of 1,305 sq. kilometres.
A mostly urban area, the district administration faces many challenges, as expectations of people living in urban areas are more than those residing in rural areas.
In an interview with The Hindu , district Collector Amrapali Kata shared how the district administration was planning to go ahead with the challenges.
What are the focus areas to develop the newly-formed urban district?
There are many challenges we need to face as problems are aplenty. This city needs massive infrastructural development such as underground drainage, sufficient drinking water, roads, etc. Of course, we need to focus on health and education as well.
How are you planning to go ahead with the same?
This city will witness development shortly. First, the underground drainage system will be in place. Second, we will have a beautiful Outer Right Road (ORR) similar to that of Hyderabad. The detailed project reports are being made, and once completed, the work on the same will start.
What are the other areas you will focus on?
Recently, 42 villages were included in the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation but they remain rural with no facilities. We will include them in all the programmes. The City got the ‘Smart City’ project, under which we will take up many programmes. Our target is to provide round-the-clock drinking water. Under Swachh Bharat, the city is ranked 32; we will aim to make it to the top five.
What are other areas that have potential to development?
Warangal city has many many prestigious educational institutes, both government and private run. We are looking at how we can best utilise human resources, because there are a lot of unemployed youth. We plan to encourage industries and software companies set up their offices in the city. It might take some time, but certainly, creating employment opportunities is one of major areas the district administration will focus on.
How do you plan to improve the health sector?
Health and education are top priorities for any administration. We wish to see pass percentage increase in government schools. If a girl fails the SSC exams, her parents will get her married. If she passes, she will go on to study Intermediate. Such a simple thing changes a girl’s life. We will improve facilities and equip teachers to produce good students.
On the health sector, the city has very big hospitals like CKM, MGM, Government Maternity Hospital, and 23 urban Primary Health Centres (PHCs). We want to standardise services. We want to strengthen PHCs with more facilities so that more needy patients are served better.
— Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao
