Nearly 314 acres in 119 villages in the district have been made ready for raising of fruit-bearing trees for monkeys as part of the 30-day village development action plan, said Collector N. Satyanarayana.
In the identified land, guava, amla, custard apple, lemon, tamarind and pitted fruit or wood apple trees would be grown. On the bunds of agriculture fields, tamarind, curry leaf, teak and sandalwood would be planted, he said, taking part in the action plan execution programme at Banda Renjal village of Bichkunda mandal on Sunday.
At the gram sabha held on the occasion, the Collector listed the activities being undertaken as part of the plan — improvement of sanitation, greenery, raising nurseries, distribution of required varieties of saplings to farmers and people, construction of graveyards and dumpyards, replacement of destroyed electric polls with new ones, tightening of sagging electric wires, filling abandoned open wells and closing unused borewells.
Mr. Satyanarayana said removal of clogs in drain channels, ensuring construction of toilets in every household, schools, anganwadis and hospitals, digging soak pits on the premises of every house, removal of weeds on roadside, etc. also figure on the list.
Each household would be given curry leaf, neem, fruit-bearing and 10 tulasi plants. Villages would get more funds under the 15th Finance Commission with which villages could be developed fast, he said.
Later, the Collector laid the foundation stone for ‘Vaikuntadamam’ or graveyard to be built at a cost of ₹13 lakh.
Assistant Collector Tejas Nandlal Pawar, PD DRDA G. Chandramohan Reddy, MPP president Ashok and sarpanch Balaraju also participated in the gram sabha.
