Modern drainage infra in 157 AP panchayats at Rs 600 cr cost

Andhra Pradesh has chalked out a plan to provide modern drainage system in 157 panchayats, costing Rs 600 crore in the first phase, the state government said.
Drawing inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat call, the state government has drawn an innovative initiative to give a facelift to hygiene and cleanliness in villages, Andhra Pradesh Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and IT Minister Lokesh told PTI.
"In the first phase, the state will lay underground drainage system in 157 panchayats over a length of 2,400 km at a cost of Rs 600 crore," he added.
This will be on an experimental basis in the first phase and would be replicated in the entire state, he said.

The minister said the state government is already doing a lot of NREGA convergence activities by integrating with other department initiatives.
"In continuing the practice, 70 per cent of the project funding is drawn from NREGA scheme while the state government will fund 20 per cent and the remaining 10 per cent will be provided by local governments," Lokesh said.

Underground drainage system water from kitchens and washrooms will be integrated with pipelines and be used for watering plants and other purposes, he said.
After the completion of the project, the responsibility of operation and maintenance will be given to the panchayats, he said.

Asked about the timeline of the project, he said, it will be started soon and will be completed in six months to one year time.
"Based on its success, the government plans to replicate it in all 12,198 villages in the state," he said.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had recently said that developing a greenfield capital for the state was a "crisis turned into a rare opportunity" and the new capital on the banks of the Krishna will be a world-class global city, unmatched in India.
He was confident that once developed, Amravati, which is looking at Rs 50,000 crore of capital infusion only for basic infrastructure, will be one of the top five cities of the world.

The state government has already got on board top global consultants from the UK, the US, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore and other nations to offer a development road map.
Top global UK-based firm Fosters and Partners is tasked with providing the city architecture plan. The firm's architects had recently met Telugu film director S S Rajamouli -- of the blockbuster Bahubali fame -- for inputs on Andhra Pradesh's culture, history and traditions.
The government has already alloted 996 acres to a dozen institutions to set up educational, health and other bodies at a projected cost of Rs 17,808 crore. These projects are aimed at creating 32,726 jobs.