Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday (August 3) announced a 60-day action plan to promote and implement greenery and cleanliness in all gram panchayats.

Under this plan, a cleanliness drive would be taken up in villages and dilapidated houses, damaged animal shelters and others would be removed, he said 

Some other works have been listed in the action plan to ensure cleanliness and hygienic conditions, he said during a meeting with senior officials.

According to an official communique, the chief minister said that villages continue to be plagued by various problems even after thousands of crores of rupees had been spent in different forms.

Pointing out that the new Panchayati Raj Act has been brought in to bring about a qualitative change in villages, he said the government would be stringent in implementing it as clear responsibilities have been given to officials and public representatives.

Rao also directed that electricity-related problems be resolved within seven days during the action plan.

The plan also envisages several responsibilities for gram panchayats, including 100% collection of taxes.

The communique also said that since the government is providing clean drinking water through mission Bhagiratha, a significant task has been removed from the Panchayats. The government is also directly taking care of electricity, irrigation, the revival of the tanks, laying of roads, health and education and other such major tasks.

He also instructed that a 60-day action programme should be conducted all over the state shortly. About 100 flying squads comprising relevant officials would go for surprise checks during the 60-day plan.

In the villages, where the assigned tasks are not completed during the 60-day programme, action would be taken against the officials and public representatives concerned, the communique said.