VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has announced that the Janmabhoomi 2.0 programme would be launched in January and the government aims to involve people in village development.
The chief minister also announced that the disqualification provision for contesting local body polls to those having “more than two children” has been removed. The law amendment bill has also been approved by the state cabinet.
The chief minister stated these while holding a review meeting on Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department. Deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan and senior officials were present.
Naidu asked officials to work in a planned manner so as to ensure electricity, gas, toilet and water tap to every house. Facilities such as street lights, drainage canals, cement roads, drinking water supply and solid waste management centres should be provided for every village under the Janmabhoomi plan-2, he said.
“There is the need to lay roads and set up marketplaces for villages that lack these. The Panchayat Raj department should take the lead in providing these as minimum requirements for every village,” he said.
Naidu said, "The funds for the villages were diverted for other purposes by the previous government. Due to this, even the minimum level of infrastructure has not been created. At present, dues of Rs 990 crore is being released to the Panchayat Raj department.”
The previous government, he alleged, was negligent in utilizing the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme of the Centre to provide tap water to every household. AP’s decline to 19th position in the Jal Jeevan Mission works was an example of this negligence. “We will immediately release Rs 500 crore as the state’s share to take the Jal Jeevan Mission forward. We will provide drinking water to every house.”
Regarding roads, the chief minister unveiled a plan to erect 17,500km of cement roads and 10,000km of drainage canals in the next five years.
Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan listed the decisions and reforms in the Panchayat Raj department since June. Gram sabhas are to be held across the state on August 23 to discuss the NREGA works.
Officials said only 60 per cent of the street lights are on in the villages. Due to non-release of funds in the last 5 years, the installation and maintenance of new lights suffered. The CM directed the officials to take matters forward and suggested generating solar power through the setting up of the system in all panchayats.
