vijayawada the central government would give rs 65 crore to provide safe drinking water to the kidney patients of a konduru mandal in the ntr district this was announced by local mp kesineni srinivas who wrote a letter to the union government seeking early release of the funds speaking to toi on saturday mp srinivas said that he had earlier placed a request with the union ministry of jal shakthi seeking protected drinking water for the tribals and dalits whose population is more in the a konduru mandal he said that the mandal is a notified tribal area with one fourth of the total population comprising the scheduled tribes the mp further said that the mandal had witnessed a steep rise in the number of chronic kidney diseases ckds which had resulted in the death of a number of patients he said that the studies conducted by the government agencies and private organisations have attributed the ckd cases in the mandal to the consumption of contaminated ground water he said that the water samples in 55 per cent of the villages in the mandal have been found to have high concentrations of silica and lead the icmrs study reports have also found that the increased concentration of silica and fluoride is one of the reasons for the steep rise of the ckd cases the mp said srinivas said that every house has a ckd patient and there are 720 ckd patients in the mandal he said that every family had lost their breadwinner to this disease he said that the number of cases and the subsequent deaths are increasing at an alarming rate he observed that neglect of the issue would amount to denial of the right to good health and living of these tribals and the dalits he requested the union minister to consider this case as the country is celebrating 75 years of independence kesineni srinivas sought to remind union minister for jal shakthi gajendra shekhawat that he had raised the question in the lok sabha during the justconcluded winter session where the union minister for health and family welfare announced the package of safe and protected drinking water for this mandal