KTR launches the 10-day Pattana Pragathi programme in Mahabubnagar

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K T Rama Rao, however, would have none of this, and straightaway got down to business to mark the launch of the 10-day Pattana Pragathi programme in Mahabubnagar on Monday. The Minister visited Patha Thota, a slum, and went from house to house inquiring with the residents whether they were getting basic civic amenities like drinking water, electricity and other services.

Rama Rao, during his interaction with the slum-dwellers, tried to understand their issues and also advised them on how to keep their surroundings clean.

Talking to an elderly woman, Venkatamma, he inquired whether she was getting pension, whether drinking water supply was proper and other aspects. He then went to the residence of Venamma, whose husband had passed away 14 years ago, leaving her and her three sons without a bread-winner. Due to financial difficulties, she had sold half of the small bit of land and has been living in a small room with her sons. She asked the Minister to allot her sons 2BHK houses and give one of her sons a government job.

While the Minister listened to her patiently, he observed that dried leaves were all over the place and Venamma had burnt some of them. He asked her not to burn the leaves, as they could be harmful to the eco-system. He also asked her not to leave decades-old machinery which was left abandoned outside the rooms, as snakes and other creatures could make them their shelter.

He then went to one Renuka’s house, who told that drinking water supply was not given to her house. He assured her that the issue would be resolved. He visited another house where he saw that one Kathalamma and her husband Mogulaiah were living with three sons (two of them married). At least 10 persons were living in the small house



with hardly two rooms.

People from almost every household he visited had requested him to allot them 2BHK houses under the State government’s housing scheme for the poor. Some of the residents also requested him to implement underground drainage system in the slum.

Nazima, daughter of Akhtarunnisa, informed the Minister that she was not able to get Shaadi Mubarak amount. After inquiring about her age when she got married, the Minister came to know that she was married off at a very early age. He politely told her that because of her child marriage, she couldn’t get the beneficiary amount under the scheme.

Later on, while addressing the ward committee members and councilors at White House Function Hall, Rama Rao remembered these people and said that many requests for 2BHK houses came from Patha Thota slum. Appreciating Excise and Tourism Minister V Srinivas Goud’s efforts in completing construction of 3,700 2BHKs in his Constituency, he pointed out that 80-90 beneficiaries from Patha Thota were allotted houses under the first phase of the scheme’s roll-out.

“There are many who are requesting for underground drainage system. What hasn’t been done for 62 years can’t be done overnight. Let us resolve our issues one after the other. That is the very idea of launching Pattana Pragathi. We have solved the age-old drinking water problem in Mahabubnagar municipality. There was a time when people used to get water once in 14 days. Now they are getting it every alternate day and in some localities, every day through Mission Bhagiratha,” he said.

During his visit to the slum, he tried his best to educate the people about keeping their surroundings clean, as it would affect their health.