TRS tackled flouride issue: Minister Jagadish Reddy

Yadadri Bhongir: Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy on Wednesday said the failure of the Congress and BJP governments, which ruled the country for over seven decades, in solving the fluoride issue was why 15 per cent of Aasara pensioners in the Munugode Assembly constituency were differently abled. Distributing pensions to new beneficiaries at Choutuppal, Jagadish […]

Yadadri Bhongir: Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy on Wednesday said the failure of the Congress and BJP governments, which ruled the country for over seven decades, in solving the fluoride issue was why 15 per cent of Aasara pensioners in the Munugode Assembly constituency were differently abled.

Distributing pensions to new beneficiaries at Choutuppal, Jagadish said handicapped pensions constituted less than five per cent among Aasra pensions in all Assembly constituencies of the State. He said fluoride water has crippled the lives of thousands of people in Munugode.

---

The number of fluoride-affected villages has increased due to the lackadaisical attitude of successive governments in united Andhra Pradesh. “When fluoride victim Amsala Swamy was placed on the table of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP government had not taken any steps to solve the issue,” he said.

The United Nations Organisations (UNO) has also cautioned that Munugode may turn into a no-man zone due to the fluoride crisis. But no one cared about this before 2014, he said.

“Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has solved the issue by supplying safe drinking water to every house in Munugode under Mission Bhagiratha. The union Health Minister has also announced in Parliament that no new fluoride cases were reported in Nalgonda district,” he said.

He said the State government was committed to providing irrigation facilities in Munugode and took up the Dindi Lift Irrigation Scheme for this. He questioned if these achievements were not big works done by the Chief Minister

Rajya Sabha member Badugula Lingaiah Yadav and Choutuppal Municipal Chairman Venreddy Raju and former Munugode MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy were present.