The combined efforts of the district officials and villagers of Malkapur in Toopran mandal have yielded good result with the village being adjudged the best in the State. The other village that was awarded the best village was Madapur in Bejjanki mandal of Karimnagar district.
Village Sarpanch Jinna Swamy and Panchayat Secretary Rajesh received the award.
Once famous as Annala Malkapur, a Naxal bastion, Malkapur transformed into a model village with the active intervention of Collector D. Ronald Rose and MPDO Ch. Srinivas Rao. The village stands as a testimony for successful implementation of the Grama Jyothi programme.
After four months of persuasion from the officials, the villagers made efforts to end open defecation. Within a month, the village was open defection-free (ODF). Later, they took up the construction of soak pits in all the houses.
The impact was so impressive that all the drains in the village dried up completely with no bad odour or mosquitoes in the village.
Malkapur, situated eight km away from the mandal headquarters Toopran, consists of three habitations – Malkapur, Konaipally (PB), New Hanumapur Tanda. According to 2011 census, the population in the gram panchayat is 2,059.
“The officials and villagers worked together for almost a year. Instead of being pestered, the villagers voluntarily participated in works such as construction of soak pits and laying of pipelines for Mission Bhagiratha. Malkapur is one of the few villages in the district that is able to protect greenery even during peak summer,” Mr. Srinivas Rao told The Hindu .
