VIJAYAWADA: For the first time in Andhra Pradesh, Krishna district has been selected for the usage of surveillance drones. The Panchayat Raj department has selected Vijayawada, along with five villages of the district, for the e-Visit programme under the pilot project to provide good governance and better public services.The key objective of this initiative is to enable better monitoring system in rural areas. The five villages selected for the purpose are Atkuru, Pedaparupudi, Kankipadu, Gudur and Pamarru.
District collector B Lakshmikantham, on the occasion, said, “With the e-Visit project, we can see the condition of roads, drains and development works in villages by using drones. Also, we can monitor the problems of public through this advanced monitoring system. Apart from monitoring and development works, we are also ready to conduct awareness programmes for farmers, who can take help of drones to spray pesticides and fertilisers in their lands. A drone can cover over 500 acres in an hour.”
As of now, all the Krishna district villages are using the e-audit system to manage the expenditure for village development works. Apart from monitoring purpose, the administration is mulling to introduce the technology in all government spheres. The general government hospitals in Vijayawada and Machilipatnam are enabled with e-audit system, where particulars of every patient and their treatment, is regularly updated.