The Hindu : Front Page : Government to highlight welfare programmes

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Friday, Feb 29, 2008
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Government to highlight welfare programmes

HYDERABAD: Getting slowly into the election mode, the Rajasekhara Reddy government has decided to launch a publicity blitzkrieg to highlight its welfare programmes and also resolved to extend the ‘pavala vaddi’ (three per cent interest) scheme to handloom weavers.

As many as 2.60 lakh weavers will get the subsidised interest from April 1. Close to 1.50 lakh of them would be provided credit cards to purchase raw material to weave sarees and other products. These decisions were taken at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy here on Thursday.

The Cabinet resolved to press into service 147 specially designed publicity vans, each covering two Assembly segments, to carry forward to the grassroots level the welfare programmes.

It reviewed the Government’s decision to request all the elected representatives to inspect social welfare hostels as part of the ‘Samkshema Baata’ programme on March 1 and 2. The Cabinet decided that the legislators would interact with the parents and explain government’s commitment to improve the facilities. It directed the officials concerned to complete all the repairs before reopening the hostels and prepare estimates by March 15.

The meeting also decided that the Social Welfare, Backward Classes, Tribal Welfare, Minority Welfare Ministers would write letters to the people explaining the steps taken by the respective departments to improve the living conditions of the poor people. The government will provide 10 per cent rebate on purchase of raw material to the weavers, who are members of the 523 weavers cooperative societies. The same facility will also be extended to the non-members. The government has agreed to give counter guarantee to the loan being extended by the National Cooperative Development Corporation to the tune of Rs. 65.07 crore.

The Cabinet approved the decision to launch the Rs. 2. a kilo rice scheme from April 7, the Telugu New Year’s Day. It cleared the proposal to recruit 46 Assistant Civil Supplies officers to supervise the implementation of the subsidy scheme which will benefit 1.82 crore white card holders.

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