Hyderabad: Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community women who will be displaced under the Musi rejuvenation project will be identified and enrolled in the self-help groups to enable them to avail themselves of interest-free loans.
The Congress govt will extend help to them to become entrepreneurs. Self-employment schemes will be extensively made accessible to SCs and STs in urban areas. As part of this, transport vehicles and cleaning machines would be sanctioned to these communities, among other things, in the municipalities and under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits.
Deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka said this at a review meeting on the SC and ST sub-plan. “The officials should formulate plans to ensure that the funds spent under the sub-plan would lead to a rise in the income of the respective communities and the creation of assets. Come up with details related to the spending of sub-plan funds and the benefits accrued to the communities for the next meeting on Jan 23,” he said.
The deputy CM also questioned the officials of departments who could not spend sub-plan funds as per the quota and how they proposed to spend it and what their plans were to reach the target in the next two months.
The officials gave a presentation of a report by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) on the implementation of the SC, ST sub-plan in various departments over the last eight years. After inquiring about the issues observed by the CESS and the outcomes achieved by the department officials on those issues, he instructed CESS to submit its reports to the finance and planning department officials hereafter and hold meetings with them frequently.
He laid emphasis on the use of solar power pump sets in forest lands and directed the officers to design bamboo, avocado, palm oil projects, and other inter-crops along with them. The works under the MGNREGS should be linked with these cultivations. This will help not only in the protection of forests but also enhance the incomes of Adivasi and tribal farmers, Bhatti said.
