Nalgonda SP, Prakash Reddy is transforming lives in Gundlapally — one of the most fluoride affected villages in the district.
IPS officer Prakash Reddy, SP, Nalgonda district is an epitome of selflessness and has adopted Gundlapally, one of the worst fluoride affected villages in the district. “When I took charge in June last year, I felt the need to address a few major social problems, so I adopted the village,” he says.
Since the district is affected by fluorosis, the 2010 batch IPS officer first installed RO water plants to provide safe drinking water. “With the help of a US-based NGO and corporates, we established around 19 RO water plants. We identified around 35 people who were affected by fluorosis and started giving them corrective treatment,” says the officer, who also started ‘Punarvasi’, a corpus fund, which provides money for the treatment of fluorosis-affected patients.
“Every month, all the police personnel contribute to this fund from their salary. We have identified 15 patients and have been giving them 1000 rupees each as pension to meet their food and medical expenses,” says Prakash Reddy, who was also the man behind the state government’s project, ‘Rakshita’ — a first of its kind initiative to save the girl child.
Reddy explains, “Female foeticide and infanticide is on the rise in the district, so we started Rakshita, a gender-awareness program to save the girl child.”
The Karimnagar-born IPS officer also took up the arduous task of improving amenities of government girls’ schools and introduced self-defence techniques. “We constructed rest rooms and compound walls and provided a bus facility. We will be taking up works like drainage, electricity and CCTV soon,” he shares, adding, “The DGP liked our concept of gender awareness programmes and implemented it throughout the state.”
A BITS Pilani graduate, Reddy started out as a software engineer. “I worked in Bangalore for two years, but always aspired to be in the civil services. Life has changed a lot after becoming an IPS officer. Being a public servant, there’s a greater job satisfaction as I solve several problems on a daily basis,” says Prakash.
*Original article and photo of Prakash Reddy online at http://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/viral-and-trending/160817/making-a-difference-3.html
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