Mahbubnagar: Palle Pragathi Phase-2 to focus on utilizing IHLs for the intended purpose

Mahbubnagar: Even though more than 90 percent villages in Mahbubnagar district completed the construction of Individual Household Latrines (IHLs) with the efforts of the district administration, bringing these latrines to use has become a big challenge for the officials as majority villages have started using them as storerooms instead of using them for the actual purpose intended.

Realising this, the district administration of Mahbubnagar during its second phase of Palle Pragathi has decided to focus on ensuring that IHLs are utilised for the purpose they were constructed.

Speaking at an awareness programme at a private function hall in Mahbubnagar, Excise Minister Srinivas Goud said that the first phase of Palle Pragathi programme was a grand success and every individual, including officials, people's representatives and others took part with great enthusiasm and made it a grand success.

During the action plan implementation, many villages developed roads, cleaned the drainages, removed unwanted bushes, razed dilapidated abandoned buildings, established dumping yards and burial grounds. With the same spirit, the government has come up with the second phase of Palle Pragathi, where in people, officials and public representatives must once again with renewed commitment and enthusiasm must play an important role in building their villages comprehensively.

"During the second phase of Palle Pragathi, we are focusing on ensuring all the constructed IHLs to be brought into functioning. We have learnt that many villagers are still not utilising the latrines and continuing defecation in the open, which is unhealthy. So, we want to make sure that all those IHLs completed be brought into functioning during the second phase," said the Excise Minister.

During the second phase, the district administration has also decided to set up nurseries on permanent bases in every village to make sure that saplings are available for plantation programme. The Minister also said that every gram panchayat would be provided with a tractor and a water tanker so the authorities concerned could water the saplings planted during the plantation drive. "For maintaining transparency, we have decided to register all the programmes and works grounded in every village. The status of the works would be monitored regularly and would be completed in a time-bound manner," said the Minister.