Warangal: '99% villages covered under water grid'

Warangal: Mission Bhagiratha, aimed at providing safe drinking water to each and every household in the State, has become a beacon for others in the country, Minister for Panchayat Raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao said. After inaugurating the monitoring cell of water grid at Bheemaram here on Friday, the Minister said that Mission Bhagiratha, the brainchild of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, is now supplying protected drinking water to households in 99 per cent villages in the State.

Although the estaimated cost of the water grid project was Rs 46,000 crore, the State government had saved nearly Rs 8,000 crore, the Minister said. Mission Bhagiratha is a replication of the Siddipet Comprehensive Drinking Water Scheme conceived and implemented some two decades ago by KCR as the MLA of Siddipet, Errabelli said. "Due to the sincere efforts of the State government in implementing Mission Bhagiratha, fluorosis cases have come down significantly in Nalgonda district," the Minister said.

Despite several requests from the Chief Minister and Telangana MPs, the BJP-led Central government has not sanctioned a single rupee for the Mission Bhagiratha, he said. The Niti Aayog had also recommended funding for the mission but the Centre ignored it, the Minister said. Referring to the Rs 883 crore funds sanctioned to Gujarat, he found fault with the Centre for its biased approach.

Errabelli also criticised the Centre for not providing funds to the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP). Time and again, the Centre had appreciated several projects implemented in Telangana, but never came forward to allocate funds.

Later, the Minister inspected Dharmasagar filter beds and said that efforts are on to supply drinking water every day from February and 24X7 from March. Mayor Gunda Prakash Rao, MP Banda Prakash legislators Aroori Ramesh and Thatikonda Rajaiah were among others present.