Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Friday announced that he would conduct surprise checks after June 19 to inspect the progress of developmental works in cities and villages and the performance of Municipal and Panchayat Raj Department officials.
The Chief Minister said a meeting would be convened on June 13 with Additional Collectors in the districts and District Panchayat Officers (DPOs) to review field-level works in villages and cities. Simultaneously, officials should also develop a system of chalking an action plan to take necessary steps in advance to tackle seasonal diseases.
“We will not spare officials who are found to be negligent while discharging duties during my surprise visits,” he said, adding that the number of Covid cases in the State had dropped with the positivity rate now down to 1.47 per cent. “Once Covid is brought under control, the next phase of Palle and Patta Pragathi programmes will be taken up,” he said, addressing a high-level meeting in Pragathi Bhavan. The Chief Minister instructed the Forest Department officials to prepare a separate action plan to increase greenery in the State.
After the new Panchayat Raj and Municipal Acts were enacted, the State government was extending assistance for the overall development of villages and cities. The government is releasing Rs 399 crore every month for the development of villages and Rs 148 crore for cities, he said.
Since the Palle and Patta Pragathi programmes were yielding results, more development activities should be carried out, Chandrashekhar Rao said and instructed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to prepare separate charts for Palle Pragathi and Patta Pragathi to know the extent of works done in municipalities and villages.
Details pertaining to sanitation, greenery, supply of drinking water, planting of saplings, number of village meetings conducted so far, participation of MPOs and their attitude along with the steps taken for the development of the village and village development reports among others should be incorporated in the chart, he said.
On the Covid situation, the officials informed the Chief Minister that the positivity rate had dropped to one per cent in north Telangana and many beds in government hospitals were vacant. They said the Chief Minister’s visit to Gandhi Hospital and MGM Hospital in Warangal instilled confidence among patients and doctors. Chandrashekhar Rao is the only Chief Minister in the country to call on Covid patients who are undergoing treatment in ICU, they said.
Information related to dumping yards, vaikunta dhamams (crematoriums), collection of garbage and electricity bills details, maintenance of sanitation, payment salaries to gram panchayat staff, nala cleaning, construction of vegetarian and non-vegetarian markets must be included in the chart.
The details of best and worst villages and mandals should be incorporated, Rao said, adding that all the details should be given to him during the surprise inspection. Improving greenery and sanitation in cities and villages should be a continuous process and there should not be any laxity on the part of Panchayat Raj and other associated departments in this regard. “We could not conduct surprise checks to give enough time to officials to complete their work and two years have already passed,” the Chief Minister said.
“There is a necessity for me to involve directly now. Any official who is found to be negligent will not be spared and stern action will be taken against errant officials,” he said. Since Additional Collectors were appointed for the development of cities and villages, they should be at the field-level to review the works. However, the Additional Collectors were unable to work on expected lines.
It would not be possible for the Municipal Administration Minister or Panchayat Raj Minister to do everything. The Minister from the district, MLAs, MLCs and other elected representatives should be involved in Palle-Pattanna Pragathi programmes, he said. He underscored the need for controlling the seasonal diseases like malaria and dengue in monsoon, swine flu in winter and diaheoria in summer along with Covid. The Municipal Administration, Panchayat Raj and Health Departments should coordinate to contain the seasonal diseases.
With the onset of the monsoon, the tanks should be cleaned to supply safe drinking water. The ANMs and ASHA workers should be geared up in advance to control seasonal diseases. From now, the Municipal Directors and Panchayat Raj Commissioners should visit districts and villages and interact with people in villages and cities to review the progress of development works, Chandrashekhar Rao said, and asked officials to develop greenery along the national highways and contractors should take the responsibility of protecting the trees.
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