BERHAMPUR: With a women's Self-Help Group (SHG) taking up the charge the poor and the needy at the remote Lailai panchayat of Rayagada block in Gajapati district have started to get the benefits of Public Distribution System (PDS) in time.

This tribal panchayat is located on a remote hilltop. It has 263 below poverty line (BPL) families and 131 economically vulnerable families. Earlier, the civil supply department of Gajapati district used to distribute rice under the PDS system once in a month at the village `haat' at Jirang. If the poor families did not have money in hand on that particular day they were missing the opportunity to get the subsidised rice.

Beneficiaries happy

Realising the problem, Maa Tarini women's SHG of Lailai decided to take up the matter with the local Block Development Officer and sub-collector. They managed to get the PDS licence for the panchayat.

President of the SHG Radhika Sabar said they had already taken their first load of PDS rice and other items. They are also making regular payments to the civil supply department and beneficiaries are happy as they are getting the subsidised PDS supplies near their home, which they can collect when they have the money in hand.

The SHG members are thankful to Pradhan Mantri Gramya Sadak Yojana due to which they are able to get the PDS supply easily from block headquarters.

Twenty-one women SHGs in Lailai panchayat had formed a union named Bharat Mata Federation which was meeting regularly to discuss problems of the area, said D.Jagannath Raju, president of SWWS, an NGO active in the area. Member of the Maa Tarini SHG Demi Mandal is sarpanch of the panchyat.

Lailai village also boasts of a gravity powered drinking water supply system that supplies drinking water to 130 families. The villagers contributed shramdaan to construct drinking water project.

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