A fluoride-affected woman of Marriguda mandal in Nalgonda district.- PHOTO: SINGAM VENKATARAMANA

The fluoride victims and social activists fighting the fluoride issue in the district have appealed to Chief Minister-designate K.Chandrasekhar Rao to put his first signature on a file declaring the constitution of a special board to resolve all the fluoride-related issues in not only Nalgonda but across Telangana.

They appealed to him to set up the head office of such an institution in Nalgonda because it was affected the most.

The Chief Minister-designate of Telangana, who is going to take oath on June 2 had promised to sanction Rs 6,000 crore for Nalgonda to exclusively address the fluoride issue during his election rallies.

During the visit of Nadendla Manohar, former Speaker of AP Assembly, to Nalgonda the officials had estimated that the district needs Rs 6,950 crore to address the issue.

Jala Sadhana Samithi president Dusharla Satyanarayana has urged the TRS chief to sanction Rs 7,000 crore to the project by setting up a special board that could be named Fluoride Victims Welfare Board.

Fluoride Vimukthi Porta Samithi president Kanchukatla Subhash said that the KCR government should concentrate on pending irrigation projects like Nakkalagandi, Aliminei Madhava Reddy Project, Brahmmana Vellemla Project, Varda Kaluva project and others to supply drinking water to all 3,389 habitations in the district.

Stating that district is having more than 4,000 minor irrigation tanks, he appealed to new government to de-silt them all besides linking them to flow the water from one tank to another that could be helpful in water conservation, increasing groundwater levels, improving annual rainfall and greenery.

Mr.Subhash said the district was receiving poor rainfall annually due to lack of ground water conservation and poor forest coverage which could also be brought under the fluoride board because these all indirectly are connected with the issue.

He appealed to KCR to issue special pension for fluoride victims on the lines of pension issued to widows, handicapped and elderly people. In addition, he urged the Chief Minister-designate to issue special health cards to them to provide free treatment to all these victims.

The activist also appealed to TRS chief to take initiative to start the construction of Centre funded RFMC (Regional Fluoride Mitigation Centre) soon.

Fluoride victim Ponnganti Tirupthamma, native of Vattipally village of Marriguda mandal, said that they are expecting a host of initiatives from KCR.

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