While Ministers and officials were busy launching Mission Kakatiya works in each village in the district, a pylon built to symbolise the spirit of the programme has been lying wrapped up, possibly forgotten.
The pylon was built prior to the launch of the Mission Kakatiya programme at the district irrigation and command area development (I&CAD) department office in Hanamkonda. An estimated Rs. 30 lakh is said to have been spent on constructing the pylon, which is 20 ft tall. The construction was taken up on January 6 and initially, it was planned that Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharati would unveil it on January 29 as part of launching Mission Kakatiya in Warangal district. But due to the delay in finalising the Minister’s programme and announcement of Graduate MLC elections, the unveiling of the pylon was temporarily deferred.
Since de-siltation works are generally taken up prior to the onset of monsoon, it was decided to launch the works without bothering about unveiling the pylon.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao launched Mission Kakatiya at Sadashivanagar in Nizamabad district on March 13. In Warangal district, the works were launched by irrigation officials without any fanfare. It was expected that the Chief Minister, during his visit to the district on March 29, would unveil the pylon. But he restricted his visit to Kanthanapalli and Devadula project sites on the banks of the Godavari. Minister for Irrigation T. Harish Rao attended the launch of Mission Kakatiya works at Sangem on Sunday but did not confirm the unveiling of the pylon.
“Unveiling the pylon even now would be meaningful as the programme has been named after Kakatiyas,” said a student activist, S. Rajesh.
Surprisingly, irrigation officials have no clue about the fate of the pylon. “We have no information from the government on unveiling the pylon,” said a senior irrigation officer on Monday.
