Minister for Panchayat Raj and IT, Nara Lokesh said here on Wednesday infrastructure was being created at a cost of ₹40,000 crore with due focus on providing safe drinking water and establishing road linkage to the hitherto unconnected rural areas.
Addressing media persons at the Secretariat, Mr. Lokesh said drinking water taps would be given to each household as part of the water grid at a cost of ₹22,000 crore and that injection bore wells were being dug where the groundwater level was very low. No State took up infrastructure creation on such a massive scale as Andhra Pradesh, he said pointing to 4,000 km link roads being laid at a cost of ₹2,000 crore in the villages.
The Minister said it was planned to go about the water grid on annuity basis in the Rayalaseema region and Nellore district and in the EPC mode in Krishna and West Godavari districts. Tenders for these components would be invited by the end of July and bids for the remaining districts before August-end. Emphasis was on supplying clean drinking water in areas affected by fluorosis.
Mr. Lokesh said 17,000 community toilets were planned and the focus on generating energy from waste was sharpened.
A majority of the waste-to-energy plants would be in place by the end of the year, he added.
