12,000 km CC roads will be laid in two years, says Andhra Rural Development Minister Lokesh
VIJAYAWADA: “In the next two years, the Panchayat Raj department has set a target to lay 12,000 km CC roads and provide underground drainage connections in the villages with more than 5,000 population,” Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Nara Lokesh said here on Monday.
While participating in the National Panchayat Raj Day celebrations here on Monday, Lokesh stressed the role of sarpanches in village development and advised them to come up with innovative ideas to boost revenue from the available sources.
Focus will be given to digitising the villages and LED bulbs will be installed in all the 13,000 panchayats to bring down the electricity bills, he said. Pointing out that majority of the villages in the State don’t even have proper methods to treat the solid waste generated, Lokesh gave directions to the officials to distribute two bins for separating organic and plastic waste.
Each panchayat can earn Rs 15 lakh by selling vermicompost, he said. Plans are afoot by the department to supply drinking water to the drought-hit villages in the State under NTR Sujala Sravanthi scheme. Funds will be mobilised from NABARD to supply enough drinking water to the villages, he added.
Minister for Roads and Buildings Ch Ayyanna Patrudu said that State government has given its nod to sanction Rs 17 lakh to Panchayat presidents for setting up an office. Of the total amount, Rs 13 lakh will be mobilised from convergence and the remaining funds from MGNREGS.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed the officials to complete the construction of 7,000 buildings for Anganwadi centres, Ch Ayyanna Patrudu said. In this regard, the State government will sanction Rs 7 lakh for each building, he said and added that Rs 10 lakh would be sanctioned for Gram Panchayats to develop graveyards in their villages.
Later, Lokesh presented mementos to 234 best panchayat sarpanches and officials.