Hyderabad: Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao stated that the rural development initiative marked the start of a new era in Telangana. He said that Telangana stands at the forefront in all fields due to the effective leadership of CM K Chandrashekar Rao.
Minister KTR said Telangana is number one among the open defecation-free states with 96.74%. KTR also noted that Tamil Nadu (35.39%) was in second place by a considerable margin.
He, however, lauded the efforts of Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao in implementing the 'Palle Pragathi' program. Minister KTR also congratulated the Panchayati Raj officials and staff of the Rural Development Departments who are relentlessly working for a cleaner Telangana.
Telangana villages are at the forefront of the country with the facilities and infrastructure provided by the state government for rural development. Recently the Center has made it possible to register the details of ODF Plus villages. Panchayati Raj officials in the state have announced details of facilities and infrastructure in the villages.
Of the 14,200 villages in the state, 13,737 villages stood as ODF plus, Panchayati Raj officials said. Of the total 5,82,903 villages in the country, only 26,138 villages are under ODF Plus, officials said. Of these, 13,737 (52 per cent) are Telangana villages.
Tamil Nadu came in second with 4,432 villages (35.39 per cent), and Karnataka came in third with 1,511 villages (5.59 %). Gujarat was ranked 17th, with only 83 villages (0.45%).
(With inputs from ABP Desam — It is a Telugu platform of ABP News. For more news, commentary and latest happenings from two Telugu states, follow https://telugu.abplive.com//amp)