Nara Lokesh promises to clear bills to sarpanches

Nandikotkur (Nandyal): Observing that the YSRCP government has turned out to be a bane for panchayats and sarpanches in the state, the TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh promised here on Wednesday to clear all the pending bills of sarpanches immediately after the TDP comes to power.

The sarpanches of Nandikotkur mandal, in a memorandum submitted to Lokesh during his ongoing Yuva Galam padayatra at Konetammapalli crossroad, complained that the bills for the works executed by them have been pending for a long time due to which they are facing a lot of problems. “The YSRCP government has become a bane for the panchayats and the sarpanches and without releasing funds for them the state government is completely weakening them,” Lokesh commented.

Stating that some sarpanches had resorted to the extreme step of suicide as over non-payment of bills for the works that they had executed by taking loans, the TDP leader said Rs 8,600 crore funds meant for the panchayats have been diverted by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government to other purposes. “The suicide of a woman sarpanch Dhanalakshmi in Prakasam district is the latest example for the plight of sarpanches,” he noted.

Lokesh also assured the sarpanches that the pending works of Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravati will be taken up. In a bid to instill confidence among the sarpanches, he said that all the pending works like laying of roads and construction of cold storage plants too will be taken up by the next TDP government.

Earlier, on the padayatra entering the Nandikotkur Assembly constituency, the local TDP leaders and party activists gave a warm welcome to Lokesh. Local Dalit representatives met him at Brahmanakotkur and submitted a memorandum to him in which they narrated their woes.

Muslim community representatives also met him and explained how they were suffering under this government. Observing that not even a single section is happy with this government, Lokesh assured them that the TDP government will bear the entire expenditure of their Haj pilgrimage.

At Kollabavapuram, the Scheduled Tribes members wanted him to take up the issue to their community as the youth are facing severe employment.

They also urged allotment of houses to them. “Not only houses but also pensions will be sanctioned to all the eligible ST families in the state and the ST Corporation will be strengthened to sanction loans under self-employment schemes,” he told them.

Lokesh, in a letter to the Governor, appealed to him to initiate steps to check attacks on Muslim minorities in the state. Expressing serious concern that the attacks on Muslims were on the rise in the recent past, he said that none other than the ruling party leaders were involved in several such incidents.

“There is an immediate need for your interference in this matter to protect the fundamental rights of the Muslim minorities,” Lokesh added in the letter.

Later in the evening, the TDP leader addressed a public meeting in Nandikotkur. Nandyal parliamentary president Gowru Venkata Reddy, former MLA Gowru Charitha Reddy and other TDP leaders accompanied Lokesh.