Tendulkar adopted village declared 'open defecation free'

Tendulkar adopted village declared 'open defecation free'

New Delhi:  The village Puttamrajuvari Kandriga in Andhra adopted by Sachin Tendulkar has undergone complete transformation which he declared "Open defecation free" in a function today.

The legend also distributed cricket bats and sporting kits to children at the newly constructed play ground in the village on the occasion of completion of Phase I of the development.

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar today called for making the country 'Swachh' and 'Swasth' Bharat (clean and healthy India), while encouraging children to play more sports.

“I feel, along with Swachh Bharat, Swasth Bharat is also important. That is why, I distributed a few cricket bats, footballs and all those things for children to play," he said at Puttamraju Kandrika village in Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh this afternoon.

Tendulkar came forward to adopt Gram Panchayat of Nernoor and habitation of Puttamrajuvari Kandriga in the month of November 2014 under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.

The Nernoor Gram Panchayat comprises three habitations- Puttamrajuvari Kandriga, Nernoor and Gollapalli with 627 households and 1895 population. The villagers were mainly engaged in the occupation of horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry.

The sleepy village which was languishing in the darkness till Tendulkar adopted it is lighted up with 24x7 power supply. The womenfolkhad to walk long ways to get drinking water and today, the village has uninterrupted water supply and every house has a meter also.

The village had dusty mud roads and presently, it boasts of wide and well maintained CC Roads. The village where cleanliness and hygiene were unheard of and open defecation was widely prevalent, is today an ODF village. The village has underground drainage system in place today.

The sports legend, who contributed Rs 2.79 crore under SAGY for these works, inaugurated the newly-built community hall.

He has now announced a further grant of Rs 90 lakh for development of infrastructure in Nernuru and Gollapalli villages under Gudur mandal. A total of Rs 1.20 crore would be spent on laying roads, building drains and providing water supply in these villages.