Road connectivity improves

Road connectivity is improving gradually in the villages and connectivity to the district head quarters from Mandal head quarters with state government taking up laying new roads on priority in the recent past in the Adilabad district of Telangana.

One can see the improving road connectivity in the interior areas of Adilabad and Sirpur (T) Assembly constituencies.       

New culverts and bridges are being constructed in place of existing low-level bridges in the tribal areas in Adilabad and Sirpur (T) Assembly constituencies and also in village in Chennur Assembly constituency where the existing the low-level bridged used to be submerged in the flood waters.

New internal roads are being laid in the villages and also connectivity to mandal head quarters and also connecting mandal headquarters to district head quarters.     

The flood situation affects the transportation to the interior villages located in the district. Roads and bridges sanctioned under Panchayatraj and R&B departments with the estimated cost of Rs 2,930 cores in the district.

Of the total, Rs 1,700 crore had been sanctioned for works under R& B and Rs 1,230 crore under Panchayatraj in the district.  

Of the total Rs 1,700 under Roads and Building department, as many as Rs 514.3 crores towards 21 road works between Mandal headquarters to district headquarters, Rs 284.77 crores for 22 road works of converting the single road to double roads, Rs 418 crore for 86 new bridges and Rs 122.2 crores for 54 repairs works in the district.

Proposal are being prepared for laying a road for the distance of 80 km between Bejjur to Chennur to improve the road connectivity in between the most backward mandals in eastern part of the district.

New blacktop (BT) roads had been laid in the Sirsanna, Guda and Rampur, Akoli, Deepaiguda, Pippalgoan , Landa Sanghi , Arli, and Neerala village in Jainad mandal and some of the roads are under progress in the same mandal. Double road is being laid between Adilabad to Bela via Jainad.  

Double road was laid from Both X roads to Boath town enabling the free flow of transportation in Boath Assembly constituency.

‘Laying new roads are visible development in the villages these days in some mandals and that is why the ruling TRS government is giving much priority to the roads and added that road connectivity brings development to the interior villages’, a senior political leader of the district observed.

Health Mission to aid tribals

The state government for the first came out with a Tribal Health Mission to improve the medical facilities and prevent all kinds of diseases in the tribal areas in the state and improve the health situation in the tribal areas in the state.

Efforts are being made to preparing a comprehensive health plan for tribals with line with departments like Panchaytraj, Medical and Health, RWS, Tribal welfare and ICDS to create better living conditions in the tribal areas.

Principal secretary for health, Suresh Chadda has been reviewing with the DMHOs about the health situation in the districts and available medical facilities in ten districts for the last two days.        

The state government also constituted cabinet sub-committee on tribal health to look after the issues pertaining to tribals. State government has taken serious note of recent epidemic and large number of Adivasi deaths in tribal areas of Adilabad and came out with a comprehensive plan to prevent diseases.

Existing hospitals would be upgraded 30 bedded hospitals all the tribal areas to improve the medical facilities and banks will be set up, recruit the doctors and paramedical staff and emergency medicines will be made available and incentives would be given to the doctors working in the tribal areas.

Treatment centres for Thalassemia Sickle cell which was a genetic disease will be established in the tribal areas following the high number of cases reported in tribal areas in Adilabad , Khammam and Warangal districts in the state.

Specialist doctors like pediatricians and gynecology will be recruited at the community health centres and existing nutritional food centres meant for anemic patients and pregnant women, lactating women and new born babies suffering from low hemoglobin percent.

Focus will be lay on providing safe drinking water to the tribal habitation, sanitation, giving nutritional good through ICDS, creating infrastructure at hospitals as part of Tribal health mission.

A senior medical officer working in the tribal areas said plans under Tribal Health Mission should be implemented affectively unlike in the past and more focus on sanitation, safe drinking water and giving nutritious good and treatment part comes later and added that prevention is better than cure. 

Above 3,000 RMPs work in Adilabad

The Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor officials have identified more than 3,000 Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) working in 13 out of total 52 mandals and their number will be much more in the entire Adilabad district of Telangana.  

Officials are arresting RMPs on the charges of giving wrong diagnosis to the patients especially tribals and damaging their health and sometimes resulting in their death.

RMPs were asked to submit the samples of malaria tests and diagnosis reports to the medical department on regular basis so that medical experts assess the diagnosis given by the RMPs.

Agency medical officials say that untrained RMPs are creating panic among the people of the tribal areas especially Adivasis with wrong diagnosis of malaria falcifparum and dengu cases and referring them to the corporate hospitals in Karimnagar, Warangal and Hyderabad with whom they had connection and get  heavy commissions.       

It is found that 200 to 300 RMPs are rendering their services in the rural areas in district. ITDA officials recently seized RMP clinic in the Utnoor for wrong diagnosis and causing death of a tribal.The RMPs have been collecting huge fees from gullible tribal people for treating the patients.

However there were incidents where RMPs saved the lives of the people in interior areas in the absence of trained doctors. RMPs and also some fake doctors running clinics in the tribal areas.

Medical, revenue and police departments recently conducted a meeting with RMPs at Utnoor and warned them not o give faulty diagnosis like giving high dose medicines and antipyretics for immediate relief to the patients as it can cause health problems.

A tribal patient of Jendaguda in Jainoor died of faulty diagnosis by the local RMP.  Most local RMPs refer the patient to the government hospital when the latter’s condition become serious.

Another tribal patient of Pitlanaik Thanda of Sirpur (U) died while undergoing treatment at RIMS who was admitted there with serious health complications due to faulty diagnosis at a clinic run by a fake doctor in Utnoor mandal headquarters.

Collector M. Jagan Mohan wrote letters to 17 clusters of Compulsory Nutritional and Health (CPH) to keep a watch on local RMPs and their faulty diagnosis.

District Malaria officer Alham Ravi said they have identified more than 3,000 RMPs in eight high risk mandals in Utnoor division and in Kadam, Sirpur(T), Jannaram, Kasipet and Kagaznagar mandals in the district.

It is learnt that state government is planning to impart training to RMPs, PMPs (Private Medical Practitioners) with regard to primary medical treatment to improve their standards and can use their services in emergency.        

Transfers paralyse school education

The recent transfers of teachers have paralyzed education in government schools in general and primary schools in particular and many primary schools in the interior areas especially in tribal areas are closed as there is no teacher available in the Telangana.

Primary schools having student strength between 15-25 were being neglected a lot after teachers’ transfers. The state government has not bothered much about the children studying in such schools and there was every possibility of such students discontinuing studies and ending up as drop outs.

It is said that nearly five to seven primary schools in tribal mandals remain closed as there is no school teacher to run the school in the Adilabad district. 

This situation was emerged with the transfers of teachers and now some of the teachers were not showing interest to work at schools in interior and tribal areas.In the process, parents start looking at their children as source of income and send them for agriculture labor works and cattle grazing or some other work if the officials concerned failed to bring them back immediately.         

Single teacher schools have been neglected a lot in the process of adjusting teachers in the schools, promotion and their transfers by the education department.

At some places, teacher post at primary schools having student strength bellow 50 was not being filled with other teacher and such post was lying vacant since the teacher of said school got promotion or transferred to some other place in the recent counseling.

District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member Meerza Yakoob Baig said ‘ seven primary schools having student strength each between 15-25 remain closed for the last one month in Indravelli mandal alone in the district.

State government is planning to recruit qualified Vidya Voluntaries (VV) by first week of October’. He said the problems regarding closure of the primary schools reported in 32 tribal including five agency madals out of total 52 in the district. There were total 640 tribal villages in 32 mandals.

There was only one teacher up to 8^th class for Urdu medium High school having 107 students strength in Indravelli mandal headquarters.

Primary schools are remain closed due to no teacher available in government schools in Ginnera, Gopalpur, Kannapur, Kannapur Thanda, Bheempur, Tekdiguda- Gatkapalli, Rampurguda villages in Indravelli mandal. There was only one teacher for 80 students in Pochampalli village in Indravelli mandal in district.

The Adilabad district education department has issued notification for 1,227 Vidya volunteers. It is learn that priority would be given to the local eligible and qualified applicants in the selection for the post of Vidya Volunteers.

Mild tremors spread panic

Edible oil rackets go unchecked

Fishing feast forges unity among villagers

Packaged food is now aplenty

Water crisis looms large

The water crisis is looming large on Adilabad district much before the onset of summer as the ground water table is at an abysmal low of 0.5 meters. 

The officials and elected representative to not have any clear action plan so far to tackle the drinking water problems in the district.

The crisis is worse in the tribal areas but the governing body meeting of the ITDA, Utnoor , held recently, did not take any decision on ht action plan.

Deputy Director, Groundwater department G. Kumaraswamy said in 2014, there was 760 mm rainfall recorded against an average rainfall of 1,147 mm recorded in 2014, which means there was 35 percent deficit rainfall. People in Utnoor and Adilabad divisions, Tanoor, Mudhole, Bhainsa mandals in Nirmal division are already facing the worst water crisis.