Vasalamarri gets Dalit Bandhu head start

Vasalamarri: Changing its strategy, the State Government launched Dalit Bandhu scheme from Vasalamarri in Yadadri Bhongir district on Wednesday. Originally, the government had proposed to launch the scheme from Huzurabad on August 16.

Giving the tag of 'Pilot Project,' Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who spent a day in his adopted village, informed the people who participated in the public meeting that the government would be transferring Rs 10 lakh to each of the Dalit families on Thursday. This would benefit 76 Dalit families in the village.

The beneficiaries have been given the freedom to utilise the money to start business activity of their choice. Before depositing the money, the government would deduct Rs 10,000 from Rs 10 lakh which is to be used for Dalit Samrakshna fund under which the beneficiaries would get some financial assistance in case they fall sick permanently. The 76 Dalit families of Vasalamrri are fortunate that they are the first among the entire 15 lakh Dalit families in the State to get the Ddalit Bandhu benefit, he said. In a move to inspire the beneficiaries to take up profit-making business activity, KCR narrated a success story of women empowerment programme by a professor in Bangladesh.

He exhorted the beneficiaries to make him a proud Chief Minister in the country by making best use of the scheme. He said he would visit the village after six months to review the success of the scheme.

The CM assured all the Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries that this was in addition to the other scheme like Rythu Bandhu, subsidised rice, Aasra pensions and other schemes. He also said that land disputes and irrigation facilities would also be addressed in the village soon.