Rural connectivity has now been included in the permissible category of works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
Following this, the state government decided to spend Rs 1,000 crore from NREGS funds to construct roads and concrete drains in remote SC/ST colonies.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said on Wednesday at least 1,500 SC/ST areas in 22 districts — including some of the remotest locations in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Khammam, Warangal and Adilabad districts — will benefit.
Every year, a large number of deaths are reported from these locations due to malaria, diarrhoea and cholera caused by poor hygienic conditions. Medical care does not reach these areas due to lack of connectivity.
According to Panchayati Raj officials, many SC/ST colonies in villages do not have even connecting roads, leave aside drainage systems. Reddy said the inclusion of rural connectivity under the MNREGA would be a boon for rural development.
“The construction of concrete drains in low-lying areas will improve hygiene conditions. Many SC/ST colonies are prone to diseases like malaria due to poor sanitation,’’ the CM said.
District Collectors can now sanction concrete internal roads and concrete drains in selected localities.
NREGS offices in 22 districts, excluding Hyderabad, have been asked to identify exclusive SC/ST-dominated areas as well as villages with a sizeable population from the two backward sections.
The CM said many gram panchayats wanted to build internal roads in SC/ST localities along with concrete drains with MGNREGS funds and later concretise such roads with Assembly Constituency Development Programme funds.
“The gram panchayats are of the opinion that such a step would lead to the creation of high quality assets under MGNREGA that would have wide ramifications on the state of public health,’’ the CM said.