MEDAK: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government would work to ensure in the next five years that there was no rural household without power and every village had drinking water, roads and telephone.

Dr. Singh was addressing a huge gathering after launching the second phase of land distribution to the poor under which 1.68 lakh acres will be assigned in the State.

The land assignment will be supported by a Rs.397-crore development package. He handed over land documents to a handful of women beneficiaries to mark the launch of the event.

The Prime Minister urged people to ensure that there was no scope for corruption or any other malpractice in services delivered by the Government, including health and education. Various schemes started by the UPA Government, including the employment guarantee, sarva siksha abhiyan and those related to health, would become a success only if people participated and "insisted" that the official machinery implemented them properly.

Focus on welfare

The Government was spending more on health, education and other areas, he said, and asked panchayat raj bodies to serve people honestly.

He said development would be incomplete unless women became partners in the process. Poverty could be eradicated if the momentum of economic growth was maintained for the next five to ten years.

He expressed confidence that India would achieve economic and social progress in the next 10 years and earn its rightful place in the comity of nations.

Pat for State

The Prime Minister lauded the State Government for launching various development and welfare schemes and said many SCs, STs and BC families could not progress because they did not own land. The land distribution scheme would benefit some two lakh families.

Referring to irrigation projects taken up at a cost of more than Rs. 40,000 crores, Dr. Singh promised all help from the Centre. The Government would help in developing Medak as a model district and for providing fluoride-free water in it.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy told the meeting that the Government was keen on diverting Godavari waters to Medak district. The district was not getting the benefit of Singur as its water was being used to augment the needs of Hyderabad.

The Union Ministers -- S. Jaipal Reddy, Dasari Narayana Rao, A. Narendra and P. Lakshmi -- and several State Ministers were present.

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