Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao, who is the in-charge Minister of the erstwhile Karimnagar district, asked officials to immediately identify dilapidated school buildings and shift the students to nearby buildings.

Mr. Rao presided over a review meeting with the officials of Karimnagar, Jagtial, Peddapalli and Rajanna Sircilla districts at the Collectorate in Karimnagar on Sunday.

He reviewed the functioning of School Education, Agriculture and Housing departments.

Minister for IT and Industries D. Sridhar Babu, Minister for Transport and Backward Classes Welfare Ponnam Prabhakar, among others attended the meeting.

Metpally MLA K. Sanjay apprised the district in-charge Minister of the dilapidated condition of the State-run high school building in Metpally and sought speedy completion of the government junior college building on the same premises to shift them into the new building.

The Minister instructed the officials of the School Education, Panchayat Raj and Roads & Buildings departments to jointly inspect the condition of government school buildings to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of students in the current rainy season.

He asked Collectors to focus on students’ enrolment drive in government schools, achieve the stipulated targets of oil palm cultivation and effective implementation of the Indiramma Illu, the flagship housing of the State government, in a transparent manner.

Mr. Sridhar Babu said the State government accorded top priority to education, health and agriculture sectors. He called upon the officials to strive to ensure the benefits of the welfare schemes, including Indiramma housing, reach all the deserving people.

He wanted the officials to encourage farmers to grow suitable alternative crops, including vegetables, so as to double their income. He directed the officials to take stringent action against those selling spurious seed.

Mr. Prabhakar asked the officials to focus on improving students’ enrolment and enhancing learning outcomes in government schools.

Highlighting the initiatives of the Congress government such as recruiting teachers and conducting training programmes for teachers of State-run schools, he emphasised the need for increased community engagement in Badi Bata enrolment campaign to make all stakeholders active partners in the endeavour.

He added that the government has started disbursing ₹9,000 crore to farmers under the Rythu Bharosa, the investment support scheme, across the State within nine days in a mission mode.