Rural areas in Telangana making a mark nationally

Hyderabad: The number of Central government awards that Telangana has been winning consistently year after year since 2015, particularly in the rural segment, are a testimony of the State government’s commitment and enormous efforts it put in to ensure overall development of the State. From winning five Best Gram Panchayat awards in 2015, Telangana in […]

Hyderabad: The number of Central government awards that Telangana has been winning consistently year after year since 2015, particularly in the rural segment, are a testimony of the State government’s commitment and enormous efforts it put in to ensure overall development of the State. From winning five Best Gram Panchayat awards in 2015, Telangana in 2022 boasts of having one Best Zilla Parishad, four Best Mandal Parishads and 14 Best Gram Panchayats awards in its kitty.

Be it the Gandagi Mukt Bharat, Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), Swacch Survekshan and other rankings, many rural bodies from Telangana feature in the lists, not to mention the scores of certifications and compliments from Central government.

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Since State formation in 2014, the TRS government has been focusing on rural development. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s brainchild Palle Pragathi programme gave an impetus to these measures, and the key factor for the success has been the effective implementation of the programme across the State.

“Among all the initiatives, appointment of Additional Collectors exclusively for local bodies in the State was the game-changer. Except for Telangana, no other State has appointed Additional Collector rank officials for local bodies,” says State Secretary Rural Development Sandeep Kumar Sultania.

Apart from delegating authority to Additional Collectors to sanction works worth Rs 5 lakh on their own, they were also mandated to monitor both urban and rural local bodies and this resulted in addressing coordination issues at different levels.

From the government’s perspective, the focus has always been on four main parameters – action plan, resources, manpower and assistance. On their part, the local bodies had to execute the action plan effectively, he explains.

The panchayats have to upload daily worksheets online and the works executed for the day. To facilitate this, the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development introduced a special app wherein the panchayat officials upload the details of works, including garbage clearance, utilisation of water tankers for watering saplings, maintenance of Vaikuntadhamas, nurseries, sanitation, among other works.

In addition to these, Mandal Panchayat Officers (MPOs) have been deployed in mandals to constantly monitor the works being executed in their respective jurisdictions. Based on their observations, they submit reports to higher authorities, who in turn scrutinize them and act accordingly. In addition to MPOs, senior IAS officers randomly inspect different works and direct the officials.

Every month, all these works are again reviewed by senior authorities led by Chief Secrertary Somesh Kumar. All these measures ensure that issues, if any, are addressed immediately and pave the way for effective execution of development works.

As a result, the ambience in villages across the State had undergone a seachange. This had helped many panchayats meet the requirements under different categories set by the Central government that eventually led to the rich haul of awards for Telangana.

Rs 227 crore for local bodies every month

The State Government has been extending all support, including financial assistance to all the local bodies. For comprehensive development of rural areas, every month Rs 227.50 crore is released as grants.

Of the Rs 227.50 crore, Rs 210.44 crore are released to Gram Panchayats, Rs 11.37crore to Mandal Parishads and Rs 5.69 crore to Zilla Parishads.

Many villages had now turned into self-sustaining habitats. Making effective use of the State government funds every month, panchayats are taking up various developmental activities like segregation of dry and wet waste, setting up of nurseries, manufacturing vermicompost through waste at the 12,769 sheds.

Every village now has a Palle Prakruthi Vanam, nursery, Vaikuntadhamam, compost unit, water tanker and a tractor. As many as 547 Brihat Palle Prakruthi Vanams development in an area of not less than 10 acres has been set up in the State.

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