Telangana Government Begins 2nd Phase Of 'Kanti Velugu' Programme

The camps will be conducted in all gram panchayats and municipal wards over the next 100 days to screen 1.5 crore people.

The second phase of the Kanti Velugu programme began across Telangana on Thursday. In all the 33 districts of the state, mass eye screening camps were officially inaugurated by ministers, MPs, MLAs, and other elected officials.

Over the next 100 days, the camps would be held in every gramme panchayat and municipal ward to screen 1.5 crore people. Free medicines and spectacles will be distributed among the beneficiaries.

Health Minister T Harish Rao and Minister for Animal Husbandry T. Srinivas Yadav inaugurated a camp in the Ameerpet area of Hyderabad and distributed spectacles. Speaking on the occasion, Harish Rao said that the aim of the programme is to ensure a blindness-free Telangana. He said Kanti Velugu has become another role model for the rest of the country. Harish Rao stated that Telangana was ecstatic that chief ministers from other states had stepped forward to implement Kanti Velugu in their respective states.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao formally launched the second phase of the programme on Wednesday at the newly inaugurated Integrated District Collectorate Complex at Khammam, along with his counterparts, Pinarayi Vijayan from Kerala, Arvind Kejriwal from Delhi, and Bhagwant Singh Mann from Punjab.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, CPI national general secretary D. Raja, and other national leaders also attended the programme.

Later, addressing the inaugural public meeting of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) at Khammam, the chief ministers of Kerala, Delhi, and Punjab lauded the programme and declared that they would implement it in their respective states.

The Kanti Velugu camps will be held between 9 am and 4 pm five days a week, for the next 100 days.

A total of 1,500 medical teams have been constituted to conduct the camps. Around 1.5 crore people will be screened, and 55 lakh spectacles and medicines will be distributed.

Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari has asked the district collectors to break the record created by the state during the first round of Kanti Velugu in 2018 by conducting more eye screening tests during this round.

(With IANS Inputs)