Hyderabad: Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao on Thursday slammed the Central government for its utter discrimination against Telangana in releasing funds under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). “The JJM was envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India,” the Minister said in the State Assembly here.
He said Rs 1,600 crore was given to smaller States like Assam where works have not even started, while Rs 1,800 crore was given to Bihar where only five per cent works have taken place and Rs 1,100 crore to Karnataka. The Centre gave Rs 1,800 crore to Maharashtra, while Rs 1,200 was given crore to Madhya Pradesh and Rs 2,500 crore to Rajasthan. It gave Rs 1,600 crore to West Bengal and Rs 2,800 crore to Uttar Pradesh. However, the Central government allocated just Rs 412 crore to Telangana but gave only Rs 84 crore. “Why this bias towards Telangana?” he asked.
He also flayed the Central government for drastically reducing funds to the gram panchayats. He also took strong exception to inspections that were carried out by the Central teams frequently in villages. One Central team after another arrived in Telangana to conduct inspection of villages without giving information to senior officials to find out any irregularities. However, the teams did not get anything concrete, he said.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, villages in Telangana were witnessing major development with improved roads and drainage facility, modern crematoriums, parks and nurseries. The sarpanches, without considering their party affiliations, were involved in the development of their villages after setting up committees, Rao said adding various development activities were taken up in villages under ‘Palle Pragathi’ programme.
He also requested the MLAs not to make unnecessary statements against the Mission Bhagiratha scheme. “If any MLA is having a problem, he or she can consult me to sort the issue instead of openly giving statements as the scheme is meeting the drinking water requirements in villages to a large extent,” he said. He said the Central government declared that the Nalgonda district is free from fluoride problem and the credit would go the Mission Bhagiratha scheme.
Drinking water being supplied to 24,543 villages: Errabelli
Hyderabad: Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao said safe drinking water was being supplied to 24,543 villages across the State under Mission Bhagiratha scheme. He said along with tribals who migrated from about 64 tribal villages in Chhattisgarh and settled in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, a total of 1,514 tribal habitations were receiving safe drinking water under the scheme.
In response to questions raised by the legislators in the Assembly during the Question Hour on Thursday, the Minister said the State government was providing drinking water to around 74 tribal villages along the Chhattisgarh border. He stated that there was some delay in execution of works due to construction of national highways and all issues will be addressed within a short span of time.
Dayakar Rao reminded that the State had won several accolades and awards at the national level for implementing Mission Bhagiratha scheme which was being replicated by the Centre as Jal Jeevan Mission. He said several other States too were emulating the scheme. He urged the BJP MPs to join the TRS MPs in the fight to get funds for Mission Bhagiratha project from the Centre.
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