Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday directed district collectors to ensure facial recognition of every beneficiary under welfare schemes and take the govt’s outreach directly to the grassroots during the 99-day ‘Praja Palana–Pragati Pranalika” programme.At a nearly six-hour review meeting with district collectors at the secretariat, attended by ministers, the CM made it clear that the success of the 99-day action plan rests squarely on their shoulders. The programme will be rolled out in five phases from March 6 to June 12, with the planning department functioning as the nodal agency. Collectors were instructed to conduct gram and ward sabhas to educate people about welfare schemes, the benefits extended to them and the expenditure incurred by the govt. The CM issued a stern warning that every collector must spend at least 10 days a month in the field. Eyes and ears of govt“The eyes and ears of the govt are the district collectors, IAS officers and officials. Collectors should work as a bridge between the govt and the people. You cannot become an IAS by chance. That job has meaning only when you do things that are useful to the people. You will continue as a collector only if you work effectively at the field level. If you do not visit the field level as a collector, you will never understand the problems of the people,” Revanth said.He cautioned that the govt would closely monitor their performance during the 99-day programme and reflect it in their annual reports. “If you do good work, we will appreciate you. We will hold another meeting on the performance of the collectors in June,” the CM said.An IAS officer will be appointed as nodal officer for each district. The five-phase schedule includes gram sabhas on April 2, mandal-level meetings on April 16, constituency-level meetings on May 2, district-level meetings on May 22 and Telangana Formation Day celebrations on June 2. 10 themes plannedThe programme will focus on 10 themes, including environmental cleanliness, clearance of pending bills, health, arrive-alive, welfare, child safety, drug control, farmers’ welfare, agriculture, education, youth, sports, women and environment. Preparatory meetings under ministers will be held in all combined districts on March 6. Public representatives — sarpanches, ward members, chairpersons, corporators and mayors — will be made partners in the programme. A one-day training session will be organised in district centres, with printed material distributed to them. Collectors were also told to use a dedicated mobile app to monitor implementation, resolve Bhu Bharati grievances, expedite land acquisition for projects such as Regional Ring Road, highways and airports, and recover Rs 3,900 crore worth of rice from millers by booking cases.
