Nizamabad: Palle Pragathi, civic polls to keep officials, politicians on their toes

Nizamabad: The second phase of Palle Pragathi and the upcoming civic body polls are keeping the officials on their toes in Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts. With both of them being held at the same time, it has become a headache for the officials and politicians to manage their time. Further, with government squads constituted to carryout surprise inspections in villages to assess the Palle Pragathi works, the panchayat officials and the political leaders have to go an extra mile to manage both the tasks.

While political leaders are busy making strategies for civic body polls, the village officials are busy with works to be taken up during the Palle Pragathi programme. The municipal authorities, on the other hand, have been working tirelessly on objections received with regard to draft voters' list, caste enumeration for reservations, reorganisation of polling stations and preparation of ballot papers for elections. Similarly, the officials of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development departments have been conducting field trips fearing that the winning chances of ruling party would be affected if they don't take up the works during the Palle Pragathi programme.

With the election and Palle Pragathi works progressing at a rapid pace simultaneously, the problem of staff crunch has been arising. Earlier, the polls to gram panchayats and Zilla Parishad were held separately where the staff was used effectively. However, this time, with Palle Pragathi and civic body polls at the same time, it has become a herculean task for the officials to manage both with the limited staff.

Meanwhile, the elections would be held for Nizamabad Municipal Corporation and six other municipalities in the erstwhile district. Of the total of seven municipalities, three municipalities were recently formed and no additional staff were assigned to these municipalities. Those who had previously worked with the Panchayati Raj department were given additional responsibilities. Now that municipal election are round the corner and with Palle Pragathi getting to roll, the shortage of hands can be seen. With this, the district officials are planning to bring in more officials to carryout the works sans any hassles.

Meanwhile, the political parties have started their campaign and going full throttle to win the polls. While TRS won the Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party shocked the pink party by winning the Nizamabad Parliamentary seat. The Congress and the Left, however, failed to make an impact in the both the Assembly and Parliament elections.

Inspired by the success of MP Arvind, the BJP has been going aggressive in the district. While the TRS too is strategising to win back its lost glory, the Congress is making efforts to secure maximum seats. Similarly, AIMIM is also making plans to win the civic body polls in the Nizamabad district and a meeting held by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi against CAA last Friday is already heating up the poll atmosphere.

On the other hand, the sudden inspections have charged up the atmosphere in villages. The 530 villages in Nizamabad and 525 in Kamareddy districts have been working towards improving infrastructure. For the last 30 days, the district administration has been focusing on villages and in this regard, committees have been formed with local representatives to identify and complete the necessary works.

Earlier, the Nizamabad district has released Rs 52 crore for three months of Palle Pragathi works with Rs 17 crore per month to improve infrastructure and other facilities. While 93 percent of short-term works were completed, the works of burial grounds, dumping yards and internal roads are yet to be completed.

It may be recalled that this time to assess the progress of Palle Pragathi works, based on the directions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, special squads have been formed. These squads will take up sudden tours to villages and inspect the works being carried out there. If no works are taken up, the public representatives and gram panchayat officials would be held responsible. The second phase of Palle Pragathi programme would start on January 2, and preparations for this have already been completed.