Anantapur: 1,500 Devadasis to benefit under new scheme

Anantapur: The state government is launching a new scheme for the Devadasi, Basavini and Jogini community, who are otherwise known as temple prostitutes, on July 30, according to district collector Gandham Chandrudu in a press release.

Under the scheme, 1,500 of the community members will be covered and each member will be supplied 25 kg rice, 5 kg wheat flour, yellow gram dal, oil and even a saree etc. These will be disbursed in the respective Tahsildar offices on July 30. On the day of disbursal of the essential commodities, covid norms will be followed including maintaining social distance, wearing face masks and gloves and making sanitisers available. Those suffering from fever, cold, cough etc and those above 60 years of age should not attend the meeting.

District Collector Gandham Chandrudu will participate in the launching ceremony at Kalyandurgam. Meanwhile, in a separate statement, collector Chandrudu revealed that 9,853 tests have been conducted on a single day on Wednesday. This is the first time that many tests were conducted on a single day. Of the 10,283 blood samples have been collected out of which 9,853 tests were performed.