Clean drinking water, rural infrastructure top priorities: Karnataka Minister Khandre

Bengaluru,

Karnataka Minister Eshwar Khandre on Friday said that ensuring clean drinking water supply, maintaining sanitation in rural areas, and creating quality public assets in villages would be his top priorities. Speaking to reporters here, he said the government's commitment was to supply water to rural areas using surface water sources for the next 25 years, and that sincere efforts would be made to implement this vision. He recalled Mahatma Gandhi's statement that "the soul of India lies in its villages".

The minister also noted that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had introduced constitutional amendments to promote village development and decentralisation of power, and said that realising this vision was one of his key objectives. The state rural development and panchayat raj minister said priority would be given to maintaining cleanliness in rural areas and creating quality public assets in villages.

He added that he would hold an introductory meeting with officials of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department on Saturday to formulate plans. The minister also said that steps would be taken to conserve lakes and water resources in rural areas and strengthen rural infrastructure. He stated that his predecessor, Priyank Kharge, had performed well and that he would continue and build upon the projects and initiatives started by him.