A Raju,
Mahbubnagar:
S. Venkat Rao, district collector of Mahbubnagar, who has taken charge recently in place of earlier collector Ronald Rose, said that very soon the Pattana pragathi progrmme will change the face of Mahabubnagar. "Pattana Pragathi and Palle Pragathi are novel programmes initited by the state government which have brought in comprehensive mindset change among the public both in the villages and urbann areas. These programmes are the basic steps towards improving the living and healthcare conditions of the people as the focus is given more on cleanlyness, sanitatiion, development of roads, drainage systems, erection of powerlines, beautification of parks, development of lung spaces for urban polulation and taking up various preventive healthcare measurers in addition to plantation of trees in a big scale across the district," says the Mahabubnagar collector while speaking during an eexclusive interview at his camp office on Friday.
Adding further the collector said his priority is to take forward all the flagship government programmes and ensure 100 per cent implementation of the Palle Pragati and Pattana pragthi, which have been effective in bringing a change of mind set among the common public with regard to sanitation,cleanliness and towards environment protection.
Brief excerpts from the Interview are as follows:
How do you feel being appointed as a district collector of Mahbubnagar and what are your priorities for the district?
Appointed as a collector is definitely a big achievement in my career and it feels really happy to serve the people in the capacity of a collector. However, administration is not new for me, right from the beginning of my carrier as a Tahasildar; I have served in various departments in different districts in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. Coming to Mahbubnagar, I have served the district earlier as Joint Collector for about two years and later was transferred to newly carved Narayanpet district as district collector, which is a big turning point.
Coming to priorities in front of me for Mahbubnagar district is to implement the flagship programmes of the state government. We have been give strict instruction from the Chief Minister to implement all the government flagship programmes 100 per cent and ensure the fruits of these welfare and development programmes are reached to the people.
What is the major flagship programme you are focusing on at present in Mahbubnagar?
Currently we are focusing on the implementation of the ‘Pattana Pragathi’ programme. As part of which we have also attended Chief Minister’s meeting in Hyderabad recently and have been given clear instructions to implement the programme in a big way and have been directed to bring a comprehensive face change among all the major towns and municipalities in the district.
What is your action plan to implement the Pattana Pragathi programme in Mahbubnagar district, and from when are you launching this programme?
As already the state government has implemented the Palle Pragathi programme and achieved a grand success, on the same lines we are also in the process of devising an action plan for the Pattana Pragathi. For this, we have already started discussions and holding meetings with all the concerned district authorities, ward counsellors, municipal chairmen’ and official staff in the municipalities.
The Pattana Pragathi will not be much different to that of the Palle Pragathi; however as the requreiemetns of the people in the urban areas will be slightly different from that of the rural villages, accordingly we will device an action plan for the development of towns and cities in the district.
As we did in Palle Pragathi, we will initially conduct awareness programmes and hold meetings with the people of each and every ward to know their requirements and needs. The public representatives of the respective wards, the special officers appointed to each ward and other municipal staff will have to visit each and every ward, conduct padayatras every day and identify the needs and requirements of the people and accordingly design an action plan for the development.
The Pattana Pragathi programme will begin from February 24ththis month.
Could you tell us about the new Municipal and Panchayatraj Acts and how are these acts going to be effective in taking forward the development programmes in the district?
The newly amended Panchayatraj Act and Municipal acts have incorporated many new things, which have given enhanced powers to the district collectors. In fact these acts have strengthened the collector institutions. Unlike earlier, where we used to take lot of time in checking the various acts and government orders to implement a decision, with the new Panchayatraj and Municipal acts all these hassles have been avoided and clear directions are given to the collector institution to take speedier decisions and ensure implementation of all the government schemes and welfare programmes in a systematic manner giving no scope to confusion and ambiguity.
How much funds have been sanctioned for the district to implement the flag ship Palle pragathi and Pattana Pragathi programmes for Mahbubnagar?
The state government has been very liberal in releasing funds for the Gram Panchayaties and Urban Local bodies to implement the flagship programmes like Palle Pragathi and Pattana Pragathi. Earlier during Palle Pragathi, for the implementation of development programmes in Grama panchayaties and urban local bodies, the state government had released Rs. 60 crores. This time again, for the Pattana pragathi programme, the state government has released Rs. 7 crores.
What kind of change have you witnessed during Palle pragathi and how will you implement Pattana pragathi programme in the district?
Definitely the Palle pragathi programme has brought a massive change in the mind set of the people. Unlike earlier where people used to take it granted to dump garbage wherever they want and littered the roads and caused lot of unhygenic condtions in the surroundings of their residences making it a serious health hazard for the public, now this mindset has completely changed since the implementation of Palle Pragathi. The government is distributing tractors to all the 441 Grama panchayaties of them we have already handed over 405 tractors and in the next 3-4 days we will also hand over the remaining 37 tractors to the pending GPs.
As an action plan for the Pattana pragathi programme we are planning to classify the issues and for identifying issues we have already set up 4 committees in each municipality which includes Women committees, Youth Committees, Prominent member committees and public representatives. The main objective of these committees to identify the problems and help in devising an action plan for taking up the development.
Under Pattana Pragathi we have decided to focus majorly on Sanitation, Haritha Haaram and resolving the power issues. In addition to these we are planning to establish new markets, Parks and developing lung spaces for the people living in the cities. Other main focus is to provide safe drinking water, development of underground drainage system.
How is the support from Local public representatives and what are the positives of Mahbubnagar district?
The support from the public representatives is immense. For instance with the support of Excise Minister Srinivas Goud, fortunately Mahbubnagar district is getting additional funds for the construction of roads, drainages, parks and development of temples, beautification of roads and junctions, lighting system etc for Mahbubnagar district.
The IT Park is one of the biggest achievements; we are almost completing the land acquisition process for this and very soon making it ready for setting up of new IT companies. Once one or two IT companies set up their bases the pace of Mahbubnagar growth will accelerate. The establishment of a government medical college and already having a private medical college in the district has drastically improved the healthcare sector in the district. The Pharma Special Economic Zone and the speedier pace of Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation project and completion of other pending projects of the past has also improved the scope of employment for youth and the farming community. Overall the Mahbubnagar district is fast moving towards changing its earlier brand of a migration district in to a district to bring reverse migration.
What according to you are negatives of Mahbubnagar district?
The major lacking witnessed among the public is their inability to take up innovative steps. For instace no farmer is daring to takeup advanced farming techniques and going by the same traditional methods inspite of facing successive losses. Similarly the youth who have graduated with hihger studies should try to develop skills the the fields of their interests and set up their own star-up enterprise and provide jobs to others instead of wasting time searching for jobs offered by others. People should have bigger goals and should dream to achive big rather than satisfying with what they have. Otherwise, the people of Palamuru are very cool going, supportive, kind and helping nature.