In the state capital Hyderabad, she was warmly welcomed 17 December by Mr. Rajshekhar Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and senior officials of the State Government who briefed her on various flagship development programmes.  A highlight of these presentations was the Ananthapur Drinking Water Supply Project which was implemented by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, a faith-based, non-governmental organization, for providing access to drinking water to nearly 1 million people in the district of Andhra Pradesh. This massive project was implemented at a cost of US$ 69 million in 18 months without any time and cost over-run. Ananthapur is semi-arid district in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The whole district had been facing extreme shortage of drinking water in all its 1,000 villages and several towns until the project was implemented.
The project was recently evaluated by the Asian Development Bank and UN-HABITAT as a best-practice and received wide-acclaim at the World Water Forum in Mexico in March 2006. Other notable projects presented included INDIRAMMA & RAJIV GRUHAKALPA, two flagship projects of the State Government addressing the Millennium Development Goals. The projects are expected to deliver housing to 2.5 million families each year over the next three years. The state Government has been working closely with the Central Government and civil society partners to make available micro-financing mechanisms to the poor for improvements of housing and services in slums. After the presentations, Mrs. Tibaijuka visited the Water Supply project in Ananthapur as a state guest. She was accompanied by Mr. Samuel, Principal Secretary of the Government and Mr. Kondal Rao, Chief Engineer of the project. She also took this opportunity to pay respects to Sri Sathya Sai Baba in Puttaparthi (A.P.), under whose inspiration and guidance the water project was implemented. Mrs. Tibaijuka, who has been recently appointed by the World Health Organization as a member of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, also visited the Super Speciality Hospital in Puttaparthi which provides tertiary healthcare to the poor that includes treatment like open-heart surgery, totally free of cost, since it was commissioned by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust in 1991. |
