Telangana stands 32nd in the country with 66.5 per cent literacy rate, while AP stands fourth with 91.1 per cent

Karimnagar MP B. Vinod Kumar expressed concern over poor literacy rate in the State in general and Karimnagar district in particular.

Presiding over a meeting of District Vigilance Monitoring Committee as its chairman here on Thursday, he said that the State stood 32nd in terms of literacy in the country (including States and Union Territories) with 66.5 per cent. Andhra Pradesh has the literacy rate of 91.1 per cent and stands fourth in the country.

In this backdrop, the MP stressed on the need for launching a special drive to increase the literacy rate in the district by organising special programmes. Accordingly, he favoured a special meeting with all the legislators and officials to chalk out strategies to intensify literacy drive. Mr. Vinod Kumar expressed concern over poor utilisation of funds sanctioned under the MGNREGS scheme in the district. Against the release of Rs. 313.99 crore, the district authorities have spent only Rs. 148.48 crore so far. He instructed the authorities concerned to expedite the pending works such as laying roads to the fields, construction of panchayat office and mahila sangham buildings, digging of open wells and others to avoid funds being lapsed. The meeting also decided to open bank accounts for all the farm labourers working under the scheme for payment of wages.

Stating that more than 216 persons have died due to sunstroke in the last summer season, the MP informed the authorities to take adequate measures to check deaths due to heat waves at the NREGS worksites and other places in the district.

Nizamabad MP K. Kavitha informed the authorities to expedite the process of issuing Sadarem camp certificates for the benefit of the differently-abled persons to secure pension and other benefits. She also instructed the medical fraternity to encourage more institutional deliveries in government hospitals.

Peddapalli MP Balka Suman, legislator D. Manohar Reddy, G. Kamalakar, Putta Madhukar, B. Shoba, MLCs Naradasu Laxman Rao, P. Sudhakar Reddy, Collector Neetu Prasad and others were also present.