Medak: Host of issues welcome newly elected sarpanches, ward members

Newly elected sarpanches and ward members in villages across erstwhile Medak district are facing serious challenges due to lack of funds for sanitation, street lights and daily activities, with leaders blaming the Congress government for neglecting rural development.

Sangareddy: While the newly elected sarpanches and ward members were in a celebratory mood after their swearing-in ceremony on Monday, a host of problems welcomed them in villages. The voters, who elected them with the hope of changing things in the villages, were ready to present several issues before them. Since the Congress came to power around two years ago, the government has completely ignored the development of villages.

The Congress government has not released any funds even for fuel for tractors used for garbage collection and for the installation of street lights in villages. Sanitation works have gone haywire in villages across the erstwhile Medak district. There were no funds even to pay the salaries of sanitation workers and other panchayat workers.

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Tractors, which were given by the previous BRS government to each and every panchayat, have remained idle in most villages. Since the previous sarpanches and ward members’ tenure came to an end in January 2019, panchayat secretaries have found it difficult to carry out day-to-day activities in villages due to a severe shortage of funds.

There are 1,613 gram panchayats across the erstwhile Medak district. However, the situation is no different in any of these villages. Those elected for the first time will have a more challenging tenure ahead as they also have to deal with inexperience.

Congratulating the newly elected sarpanches and ward members, Sangareddy MLA Chintha Prabhakar urged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to grant adequate funds to panchayats to help sarpanches carry out their activities without any issues. Asking Revanth Reddy to learn from the mistakes, he said the people would teach a fitting lesson in the coming MPTC and ZPTC elections if the government continued to ignore panchayats.