The Hindu : Poor being helped to help themselves

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 06, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

Poor being helped to help themselves

By Raviprasad Kamila

MANGALORE, MARCH 5. Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP), the implementing agency of the community development component of the Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Project (KUDCEMP) in six towns in the coastal region, has identified 8,479 poor families in the limits of the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) to be helped during 2002-03.

The poor families identified by the corporation under the Shahari Rozgar Yojana were also included in the project. The SKDRDP had identified such families by adopting its own methodology, officials of the project said.

The Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) has entrusted KUDCEMP with the task of developing infrastructure in 10 coastal towns of the State with a participatory approach.

It has chosen SKDRDP as the implementing agency of the KUDCEMP's community development component for Mangalore, Ullal, Puttur, Udupi, Kundapur, and Sirsi.

The project was handed over to SKDRDP in September 2002. The project aims at creating infrastructure in slums and identifying poor families that need to be helped.

The project also aims at forming self-help groups in urban areas and creating awareness among its members on various aspects.

The other objectives include organising health check-up camps and creating awareness on health, waste management, and sanitation.

The project was launched one and a half years ago and SKDRDP had formed 549 self-help groups with 6,778 members in the corporation limits. Till February 20, 2004, the self-help groups had saved Rs. 40,54,825, the officials said.

They said 114 members had taken up self-employment schemes. Some members were marketing products manufactured by women members of self-help groups formed under the "Siri'' project of SKDRDP. These members had availed themselves of loans from the revolving fund of the Government and from SKDRDP, they added.

The officials said SKDRDP had identified 22,843 poor families in the six towns during 2002-03.

It had formed 1,560 self-help groups involving 19,846 families till December last. Low-cost sanitation units had been provided to 11,027 families. These self-help groups had mobilised Rs. 1 crore.

The SKDRDP had organised 1,107 health awareness camps, 6,314 capacity-building training programmes, solid waste management and de-addiction camps, and other educational programmes, they added.

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