UNIQUE DEMONSTRATION: Street players and drummers led by Venepalli Panduranga Rao, Alagadapa sarpanch, staging a dharna at Miryalguda on Thursday.

NALGONDA: A good number of street-players and drummers on Thursday took out a rally in Miryalaguda demanding that the Government implement the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) scheme in 15 villages surrounding the town.

Venepalli Pandu Ranga Rao, who had made headlines by calling for a referendum on his performance two years ago, organised the novel protest.

The traffic in the town came to a standstill for more than one hour due to the novel protest.

The protesters displayed banners to highlight the alleged "lukewarm response" of Union Minister and Miryalaugda MP S.Jaipal Reddy and State Home Minister K. Jana Reddy to their long-pending demand.

Memo submitted

Later, they submitted a memorandum to the Revenue Divisional Officer requesting him to impress upon the Government the need for implementing the scheme which, according to them, was a boon for the villages near the town.

Mr.Rao, who has been waging a lone battle on the issue for the last couple of years, told reporters that confusion prevailed on the PURA scheme, the brainchild of President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam.

"They have decided to implement the scheme in 15 villages around Miryalaugda town on an experimental basis. Rural Development Minister D. Srinivas too signed the file and district Collector K. Vijayanand told us that the district would receive funds under the scheme," Mr.Rao told reporters.

He alleged that the two Ministers had failed to follow up the project.

"Whenever people ask about the project, the Union Minister says that he is striving to get the project for Miryalaguda but it is not materialising," he said.

Hundreds of villagers led by Mr. Rao had observed town bandh on June 2 on the issue.

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