Hyderabad: Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya started yielding fruits and realising the dreams of scores of people in Telangana. While Mission Bhagiratha put an end to fluorosis woes in erstwhile Nalgonda district, Mission Kakatiya stabilised about 15 lakh acres ayacut, besides increasing groundwater levels.
Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Sunday cited a report by India Natural Resource Economics and Management Foundation, and announced that no person was affected by fluorosis in the State over the last six years. “I am proudly informing the House that this is one of the examples of the significance of achieving Telangana State,” he said, with reference to Mission Bhagiratha.
The Minister said Mission Bhagiratha was designed by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to supply safe drinking water to all habitations in the State and end the problems of fluorosis as well as deaths caused by polluted drinking water in tribal areas. He pointed out that the Mission also solved the drinking water crisis. He said Rs 800 crore was allocated in the Budget for the implementation of Mission Bhagiratha in 38 cities and towns for developing an internal network of pipelines and storage tanks.
Under Mission Kakatiya, about 46,000 tanks were rejuvenated, resulting in an increase of water storage capacity in tanks. The programme also will be continued to increase storage capacity of tanks.
*Original article online at https://telanganatoday.com/no-fluorosis-case-in-nalgonda-in-last-six-years-says-harish-rao