Karimnagar: Government plans over 20k cr annual spend on Dalits

Karimnagar: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Friday vowed: "Till the last drop of my blood I will fight for the comprehensive development of Dalits." He also vowed that just as he fought for the separate Telangana statehood, he would wage a similar battle for the success of Dalit Bandhu scheme in the State.

Conducting a high-level review meeting with the top officials of the State as well as Karimnagar district, he noted that his government had attracted around Rs 2.2 lakh crore investments into the State in the industries sector and helped create 15 lakh employment opportunities. Similarly, investment to the tune of Rs 1.75 lakh crore on Dalit entrepreneurship would create employment for lakhs of Dalits through the Dalit Bandhu.

The CM explained that Rs 1.75 Lakh crore would be spent in a phased manner under the new scheme. Every year around Rs 30,000 crore would be spent on 2 to 3 lakh Dalit families. A Dalit Chaitanya Jyothi would start from Huzurabad spread all over the state, showing the way to the country and would ignite consciousness among the oppressed Dalits.

"Time has come to implement an action plan for the development of Dalits, which I have been thinking for a long time. When I was MLA of Siddipet I implemented the Dalit Chaitanya Jyothi programme and worked for their development. In fact, Dalit Bandhu Scheme should have begun last year itself but due to Corona it was delayed," he informed.

The CM instructed the officials to bring out a leaflet on the programmes being implemented under the Dalit Bandhu and explain its salient features, opportunities to the beneficiaries.

He also made it clear to the officials that the beneficiaries themselves should select the nature of their activity. There are no restrictions on which work should be taken up and where. He suggested that the officials make the beneficiaries open an exclusive Telangana Dalit Bandhu Bank account and in this regard they should take help from the bankers. He also wanted them to tag the Dalit Bandhu account and regularly monitor the progress and give suggestions from time to time.