Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has dropped hints about expansion of his Cabinet, though he did not indicate any time frame for it. “In the next Cabinet expansion, a tribal person would surely be inducted to handle tribal welfare,” Mr. Rao said here on Thursday.
Speaking at a programme organised in connection with laying of foundation stones for a Banjara Bhavan and Kumram Bheem Adivasi Bhavan, Mr. Rao said all 260 tribal hamlets in the State would be connected with roads in one year under a special package.
The two buildings are to be constructed on road number 10 in Banjara Hills at a cost of Rs. 2.5 crore each.
Expressing concern over the deaths in tribal habitations due to viral fevers and other communicable diseases, he said a 500-strong Task Force comprising medical experts and cultural troupes would be formed. They would tour the tribal habitations in nine districts. While doctors would treat patients immediately, the cultural troupe members and experts would tell them the importance of nutrition, medical precautions to be taken and the need to do away with blind beliefs and superstitions.
The crowd cheered him lustily when he announced that every tribal woman would be given three acres of land. “Not only that, we will ensure that you will get a borewell and a motor that you need for tilling the land for the first crop,” he said.
On reservation of 12 per cent for the STs, he said a high-level committee would be set up with a sitting High Court Judge to look into the modalities. He said he faced criticism against his decision on the grounds that the tribal population was only about 10 per cent and he could not sanction reservations over and above that.
