Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday called on officials and people to work together for the successful implementation of the 30-day action plan for villages and ensure that the coming Dasara festival is celebrated in villages that are clean and hygienic.
Expressing hope that the action plan, set for launch on September 6, will change villages for the better, the Chief Minister called for developing Telangana’s villages as models for the country to follow. “As part of the efforts to bring a qualitative change in villages, the government has already devolved powers, funds and responsibilities to village panchayats, as well as to Zilla and Mandal Parishads. The responsibility for the success of the 30-day action plan lies with villagers who should offer shramdaan for development of their villages,” he said.
क्या अनुच्छेद 370 का समर्थन कर मायावती जम्मू कश्मीर में नई राजनीतिक संभावनाएं तलाश रही हैं
Continuous process
Chandrashekhar Rao made it clear that the proposed action plan was just the beginning, and development of villages will be a continuous process. “I am requesting everyone, District Collectors, Panchayat Raj officials and others, to take the lead and work with commitment to ensure the plan’s success,” the Chief Minister said.
The government, he said, was already directly handling several works at the village level such as providing safe and pure drinking water through Mission Bhagiratha. The Electricity Department was providing uninterrupted power supply, Agriculture Department was taking care of schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima and tank rejuvenation was done under Mission Kakatiya.
Role of GPs
“Against this backdrop, gram panchayats have definite roles to play and important duties to discharge. Increasing participation of people, maintaining cleanliness and improving tree cover, preparing one-year and five-year plans, collecting taxes in a timely manner, paying electricity bills on time, managing streetlights properly are to be taken up by Gram Panchayats,” the Chief Minister said.
The State government has implemented major administrative reforms, formed new districts, divisions and mandals and upgraded thandas, gudems and habitations as special panchayats. The number of Gram Panchayats has increased from 8,690 to 12,751 and as a result as many as 3,146 ST candidates got the opportunity to become sarpanches, he said.