The Telangana Government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the implementation of the Dalit Empowerment Plan, a new scheme being launched in the State soon.

About eight lakh Dalits under the below poverty line (BPL) would be covered under the scheme. “We will allocate Rs 1,000 crore for the scheme this year. This is different from the developmental works taken up under the SC Sub Plan,” the State's Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said.

Reviewing various schemes on Saturday, he said the beneficiaries would get old-age pensions.

He has convened an all-party meeting on Sunday to discuss the scheme and prepare guidelines for its implementation.

The Chief Minister has asked the officials to get ready a 10-day Palle and Pattana Pragathi programmes that seek to complete all the pending works in rural and urban areas.

He also made it clear that after the 10-day programme no work in village or urban areas should be left unattended and unsolved. Each of the minister will get Rs 2 crore and district collectors Rs 1 crore each to take up developmental works.

Rice mills

Referring to the growth in agriculture, he said the State needed more rice mills to process the huge quantities of paddy produced. “We need to set up food processing zones in an extent of 250 acres each,” he said.

The State's Chief Minister asked the officials to encourage farmers to go in for profitable crops such as red gram, cotton and oil palm.

He wanted the officials to create a registry, enumerating all government lands under various departments. “This inventory of lands should be ready by the end of July. We should have an Estate Officer in each district to monitor and protect the government lands,” he said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW