Vijayawada:11,205 crore spent under Scheduled Castes Sub Plan

Vijayawada: The state government spent Rs 11,205.40 crore under the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan during the 2019-20 which is 20 per cent more than the amount spent during the corresponding period last year, said Muddada Ravichandra, secretary of the social welfare department.

Addressing the media here on Saturday along with joint director Raghuram, he said that the government concentrated on the development of the Scheduled Castes communities in agriculture, education, industry and welfare sectors during 2019-20.

He recalled that the previous government spent Rs 8,888.48 crore under the SC sub-plan in 2018-19.

Stating that the government was concentrating more on the education sector which is crucial, he said that in the month of April alone this year, the government spent Rs 242.96 crore on Jaganna Vasati and Vidya Deevena schemes.

Ravichandra said that 175 residential schools out of the total of 185 schools were provided with compound wall, toilets, drinking water, furniture, repairs and other infrastructure under Naadu-Nedu scheme.

"Every student of residential schools was given 12.5 kg rice, 30 eggs and 28 chikkis in the backdrop of Covid19," he said.

Ravichandra said that 15.65 lakh SC families were benefited with the enhancement from 100 units to 200 units of free power consumption under SC sub-plan.

The industrialists in the MSME sector were given incentives worth Rs 238.5 crore in the present financial year, he added.