VIJAYAWADA: One man’s strong determination to put an end to the long-pending problem, and the support from the Panchayat Raj Department officials have changed the fate of Vissakoderu village in West Godavari district, and it has become a role model for others now.
The hardship of more than 2,500 families in the village to get potable drinking water is now a thing of the past, thanks to the efforts of Bolla Srinivas, Sarpanch of Vissakoderu.
Located 9 km away from the mandal headquarters Palakoderu, and 5 km from Bhimavaram, the village had been struggling to provide potable drinking water to the people for the past two decades.
Soon after the TDP-led NDA government was formed, and with the funds allocated under 15th Finance Commission, the village solved its drinking water problem on its own.
The success story of Vissakoderu Sarpanch Srinivas has gained the attention of Deputy Chief Minister (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development) K Pawan Kalyan.
Through the official Deputy CM’s X handle, Pawan Kalyan lauded the efforts of villagers and appreciated them for emerging as a role model for other villages by displaying true spirit of self governance.
The man behind the achievement is Srinivas, who gave priority to spend the 15th Finance Commission grant of Rs 10 lakh only on works related to supply of drinking water to villagers.
He spent Rs 2.5 lakh on laying an extra pipeline and construction of new water purification unit, Rs 4.5 lakh for repairing two waterbeds and remaining amount on alum treatment unit, resulting in the supply of 2.5 lakh litres of water to 2,500 families daily.
“For the last two decades, Vissakoderu had been depending on water tankers and bottled treated water as the raw water from the GNV canal contains pollutants. Now, we are able to purify the water and supply potable drinking water to villagers through two overhead tanks. During the previous government, the Finance Commission grants were diverted, leaving us no scope to utilise them for our purpose. But this time, the State government gave much needed autonomy on fund utilisation, which helped us bring the dysfunctional drinking water supply system back into operation,” Srinivas told TNIE.
He said another drinking water project at a cost of Rs 20 lakh is being set up, and it will be inaugurated after the end of the MLC elections. “Since the village is close to Bhimavaram and Palakoderu, it is witnessing rapid development,” he added.