Khammam, the fourth largest city in the state of Telangana recently witnessed a plethora of developments, and this happened mainly due to the efforts of District Collector RV Karnan. With the help of Khammam Corporation, the district has received a tremendous facelift, attracting more people to contribute to the economy.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, the officer talked about the several infrastructures that are benefitting the city and its people.
ATTRACTIVE TANK BUNDS
To improve the public amenities, Mr. Karnan worked on two major water tanks in the city. He de-silted them and made them into beautiful tank bunds.
“We filled the tanks with fresh water from Krishna River, making it the only tank in the entire country to have freshwater, and not the one coming from city drainage,” said a beaming Mr. Karnan.
He also removed encroachments, strengthened the tanks, and made walkways over it- complete with open gyms, fountains, and other attractive spots.
“The main water channel goes through the city, thus welcoming trash into it by the citizens. To avoid that, we fenced the 10-kilometer channel from both sides and made walkways over it, calling it ‘canal front’. Likewise, we protected the water body and the construction of walkway enabled the people of the slums to enjoy the children’s parks and open gyms situated there.”
FENCED DRAINAGE CANALS
Moreover, the collector got the entire stretch of 11-kilometer long drainage canal crossing the city fenced, and installed swings for children and open gyms for youngsters residing in the area.
“It is like fenced open drainage, lined with parks and gyms for the young and elderly. We are also doing plantation activities along with it for greenery and fresh air,” said Mr. Karnan.
WASTE ON WHEELS
Apart from working to protect the water bodies, the collector is also taking initiatives to keep the city clean and green, which involves his ‘waste on wheels’ initiative.
In each of the 60 wards of the district, Mr. Karnan has established a shed wherein dry waste from all over the division is collected and segregated, which will be further provided to SHGs that require them.
“It will directly go to the recyclers who can make use of them, thereby reducing the accumulation of unnecessary dry waste,” he told Indian Masterminds.
Another aspect of the same initiative is the collection of the waste directly from any function or party by the waste-collection contractors. However, this step has come to a pause recently owing to the pandemic lockdown and a halt in functions and celebrations.
LOO CAFES
In a unique and creative initiative by the administration, the collector got ‘loo cafes’ established in the district. Loo cafes are basically public toilets surrounded by little kiosks and shops that would appeal to the citizens.
“If we had just constructed public toilets, no one would have visited them or kept them maintained. With shops and ATMs around the areas, the public toilets will be at work continuously and the person assigned the duty of its maintenance would also like to do his work properly,” Mr. Karnan said.
Loo cafes have been installed near each important location in Khammam and are running successfully.
UPLIFTING MINOR DISTRIBUTARIES
Apart from the major channels in the district, there are several minor distributaries flowing through the city, one of which was in very poor condition. It was fully surrounded by shops but nobody was taking care of it.
“We completely cleaned it and to uplift it, we made street art graffiti on the shops there. It’s a very important location which is now covered with street art canvassing all the households,” he said.
DEVELOPING CREMATORIUM
Mr. Karnan also decided to get the crematorium of Khammam renovated and made it look like a park instead of a crematorium.
“Even in the last moment of a person’s life on this Earth, they deserve a proper place to let themselves go. That place should give out a positive and reassuring vibe, instead of a gloomy one, even to the bereaving family members,” he held.
It’s hoped that all these measures will soon push Khamman up on the tourism list of Telangana.
