RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Two West Godavari villages —Duvva and Penumarru—have made Andhra Pradesh proud by winning national recognition for their good governance practices. The village sarpanches—AV Suryanarayana Murthy and K Gopi—have been invited by the Centre to present their respective development models during the three-day conference to be held in Srinagar from August 21.
Duvva is a prosperous village located between Tanuku and Tadepalligudem, while Penumarru is a remote village on the banks of the Vasista river in the Palakol assembly constituency.
The two villages stood first when it came to initiating developmental measures. Besides successfully completing the construction of village secretariat buildings as sanctioned by the State government, they took special care to put their villages on the development track. This fetched them the opportunity to gain attention at the national level.
The villages were selected on the basis of development works, services accessible to the public and maintenance of sanitation works, said KVSR Ravikumar, CEO of West Godavari and Eluru Zilla Parishad speaking to TNIE.
WG villages give priority to delivery of services
With a population of 13,600, Duvva panchayat has set an example for others by completing the construction of the secretariat building in record time. The secretariat has been rendering services from the new building for the past one year. The panchayat has a sophisticated drainage system taken up at a cost of Rs 70 lakh.
Speaking to TNIE, the sarpanch of Duvva panchayat, AV Suryanarayana Murthy, said that he has been currently focusing on desilting and repairing water bodies under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The village has a drinking water supply round-the-clock. “All thanks to Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy for bringing reforms to the village administration. Village secretariats and volunteers have brought a huge difference to the delivery of services,” he said with joy.
Meanwhile, Penumarru sarpanch Gopi ensured the construction of the village secretariat, Rythu Bharosa centre and YSR village clinic were completed on time. Besides modifying the drainage system, he got 30 cents of land allocated for the long-pending cremation issue.
Speaking to TNIE, Gopi said, “I’m happy to represent my village on a national platform. The introduction of innovative schemes for the development of the villages has given a much-needed fillip to the gram panchayats.” West Godavari district panchayat officer Mallikarjuna said that it was a great privilege to send two sarpanches to the national-level workshop.