Minister of Commerce & Industry, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman visited her adopted villages – Pedhamayanavanilanka & Toorputallu in West Goadavari district of Andhra Pradesh and dedicated various projects to the two villages, completing one year of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana in the two villages.
In the last one year, following projects have been completed under various sectors :
Drinking water : Improving the quality of drinking water
On account of being located on the sea coast, the two adopted villages were forced to drink water with high salt content. In order to tackle this problem and provide them with purest form of drinking water :
(1) Funded by MPLADS funds, RO water treatment plant (3000 LPH) at Toorputallu was inaugurated on 8th April,2015
(2) Funded by MPLADS funds, RO water treatment plant (4000 LPH) at Pedhamayanvanilanka was inaugurated on 17th Oct, 2015
(3) Funded by MPLADS funds, Second RO water treatment plant ( 3000 LPH) at Toorputallu was inaugurated on 17th October,2015
Sanitation& Cleanliness: Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan
(4) Bio-digester based toilets:
- The two adopted villages are the first villages in the country to have individual Bio- digester based toilets developed by DRDO
- A pilot project with around 44 bio-digester based toilets funded under CSR of Jyothy Labs was completed on 8th April,2015 when these bio-digesters were dedicated to the two villages. The bio digester toilets have received an overwhelming response from the villagers.
- On 27th August,2015 , MS Swaminathan Foundation conducted a third party review of the performance of bio-digesters and concluded that the bio-digester toilets were indeed functioning well and that there was an increasing demand for bio-digester based toilets in rest of the households.
- Bio- digester based toilet is the next age Sanitation Technology which does not require Sewage system, does not pollute water , recharges the ground water and saves government resources by eliminating the need for maintenance of sewage system. No evacuation of bio digester tank for lifetime. Hence, eliminating manual scavenging in any form (as night soil, as a dried manure in single and twin pit toilets ). The effluent water is free of any disease carrying pathogens, free of odour and colourless. Effluent water is safe. Additionally, it recharges water table with clean water.
(5) Integrated Solid Waste Management Program
- An Integrated Solid waste management program for the two villages was inaugurated on 7th April,2015
- Each household was given dustbins
- Sanitation supervisors were employed to collect waste from each household in the two villages
- These supervisors were equipped with tricycles to collect the waste from each household
- A designated dumping yard was earmarked
- The collected waste is being now dumped at the designated Dumping Yard
(6) Community Infrastructure
Multipurpose Disaster Relief Center
- A multipurpose cyclone relief building funded by the World Bank was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister on 17th October,2015. This center will act as a disaster relief center for the adopted village during the time of cyclonic disturbances and for rest of the year will be used as a center for computer training, skill development center for women and for other social gatherings.
(7) Education
- Class X students of the two villages had to walk between 5-7 kms to reach their examination center for Board Exams. On 13th Feb, 2015 an examination center was established in Toorputallu for Class X students of the two villages so that they do not have to walk miles to appear for their examinations
(8) Financial security :
- Special Camps were organised between 16th- 18th November in the two villages to ensure that all the households are covered under Jhan Dhan Yojana and AADHAR Scheme .
- Today, every household in the two villages by and large has at-least one bank account
- Both the villages have 100 percent AADHAR linkage
- Special camps were organized by Vijaya Bank in the month of May,2015 to enroll with the Financial Security schemes ( Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Bima Suraksha Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana) recently announced in the general budget 2015 . Approximately 70% of the villagers have been registered with these schemes.
Clean Energy
(9) Solar Lanterns
- 3500 Solar Lanterns for all the households in the two adopted villages were distributed on 17th Oct, 2015 .
- Solar lanterns are of particular utility in these two villages because of the majority of population being that of fishermen who often venture out in the sea at late night
- Solar lanterns developed by SECI & NREDCAP, Andhra Pradesh also have facility to charge the mobile phones
Skill development
(10) Aqua culture
- MS Swaminathan foundation has volunteered to get involved in the development of the two villages and since August, 2015 has been conducting studies to evolve a comprehensive mechanism of increasing the quality and the quantity of aquaculture in the two villages.
(11) CC Roads
- Funded by MPLADS funds, 4 highest priority CC Roads were provided in the two villages
