Telangana Rural Water and Sanitation Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao today revealed that it was the TRS' flagship Mission Bhagiratha scheme, aimed at "providing safe drinking water to every household in the state", that had initially attracted him to the party.
Speaking at a meeting on the implementation of the program, held at Komatibanda in Siddipet district's Gajwel mandal, he said, "Although I was then a TDP leader, I was able to appreciate the worth of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's Mission Bhagiratha scheme. In fact, on seeing how well the TRS was implementing the scheme, I even decided to join the party," he said.
"It is not just the people of the state who have appreciated the scheme - the officials of the Centre's Jal Jivan Mission have also praised our Mission Bhagiratha program," he gushed.
The minister used the opportunity to express his appreciation for those who had made the project a success.
"It is due to the efforts of various officials and workers of the state that the scheme is now a success. I must thank the engineering staff who slogged relentlessly for the project's successful completion. I hope that any project started in the state will be completed with the same commitment," he said.
Rao also lauded the TRS government for its success in resolving the state's drinking water problems.
"Though successive governments in undivided Andhra Pradesh spent a lot of money on improving the state's drinking water supply systems, they could not resolve the problem permanently. People used to spend thousands to drill bore-wells to meet their daily drinking water needs. But now, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has implemented a project that ensures the supply of filtered surface water to each and every household in the state. The government invested Rs 46,000 crore on this program, and helped 56 lakh rural families across 27,500 villages to access clean water. But this is not the first such scheme started by the TRS - Mission Bhagiratha is based on the Siddipet Comprehensive Drinking Water Scheme, which was evolved and implemented by KCR as the MLA of Siddipet. The CM has always been committed to the people," he claimed.
The minister added that to celebrate the "grand success" of the state's drinking water project, a special Mission Bhagiratha water bottle would be released soon.
Secretary to Chief Minister Smitha Sabharwal, Engineer-in-Chief Krupakar Reddy, CEs, SEs, EEs, DEs and AEs from all the districts also attended the meeting.
Errabelli Dayakar Rao has always been committed to ensuring the success of Mission Bhagiratha. He even
came down heavily on the Centre a few months ago when the latter failed to sanction funds for the project.