Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

Walkout over `selective' implementation of girl child scheme

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD March 3. Congress and CPI (M) members staged a walkout in the Assembly on Monday protesting over the refusal of the Government to give an assurance on extending financial assistance to all BPL families under the Girl Child Protection Scheme.

Earlier, Congress members stalled the proceedings of the House demanding an apology from the Minister for Industries, K.Vidyadhar Rao, for his remarks against a Congress member, Vanama Venkateswara Rao.

The Leader of the Opposition, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, charged the Government with going back on its promise of extending the scheme to all families. Several restrictions were being applied to deny the facility to many. Second girl child was not being given the assistance and it was limited to only single child families.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy said the assistance had been extended to only two lakh families whereas there were 1.2 crore BPL families in the State. The pending applications -- 21,361 -- pertained to only single child families and other applications had been rejected, he contended. The Chief Minister had promised to apply the scheme to every girl child born in the BPL family during elections by assuring the poor that he would be the "Mena Mama'' (maternal uncle) for the girl.

(Later talking to presspersons he called the Chief Minister "Kamsa Mama' (Kamsa of the Bhagavatha). Another Congress member, K.R. Suresh Reddy, said the Minister for Finance, Y. Ramakrishnudu, and the Minister for Women and Child Welfare, Saraswathi, were "misinforming'' the House on the issue. The target had been reduced compared to last year and there was no proper clarification forthcoming on the reason, he said.

Mr. Ramakrishnudu said though the target was just 28,176 this year, 48,151 families had been covered. The pending applications would be cleared by March 31 and there was no room for any apprehension. The Government was fully committed to its policy of protecting the girl child.

When Mr. Vidyadhar Rao's remark that the Congress member, Mr. Venkateswara Rao, was ignorant of the law raised the level of the din and the latter rushed to the podium seeking an apology. The protests continued till the walkout.

Earlier, the Speaker, Pratibha Bharathi, rejected the adjournment motions of the Congress seeking a discussion on special favour given to a Malaysian company in the Special Economic Zone and two more on the problems of tobacco farmers moved by the BJP and the CPI(M).

She agreed to the suggestion of the Congress member, Mr. Suresh Reddy, that a floor leaders' meet be called to discuss ways to clear all issues listed under Rule 304 without any postponement.

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