Increasing confidence levels and making them feel that they are no way inferior is one important way to work for the upliftment of Girijans, felt Sub-Collector of Paderu Lotheti Siva Sankar.
One step he has initiated might not have been attempted by an officer in the past-asking the children studying in the Tribal Welfare Department Residential Schools for lunch at his official residence. He is asking other officials also to invite the children for lunch or snacks at their homes. "This will make the children know how an officer's house looks like and its ambiance and should prompt them to study well and become an officer in future", Mr. Siva Sankar, who is also incharge project officer of Paderu ITDA, says.
Named as Nela Nela Vennela, this programme will see the top officials inviting the children to their homes on every second and fourth Fridays. The officers will talk to the children and provide career guidance to them depending on their interest.
He often takes lunch or breakfast with children at their residential schools and decided to call them to his home for a better result.
Part of Nela Nela Vennela is taking the ninth class students of Ashram schools on an excursion to Visakhapatnam and show them around the tourist attractions and other places of interest and importance after a visit to Borra caves. Two thousand students have visited the city so far. To prompt the students to return to their hostels without wasting time after the Sankranti and Dasara vacations, each student is given Rs. 500 if he or she returns within two days of reopening of the hostels.
Visakha Agency is known for rough terrains and inaccessible roads and bringing a patient to the nearest hospital from a remote village is a difficult task. As many as 1275 habitations have been identified for lack of connectivity and to encourage villagers to carry a sick person to the nearest PHC in a ‘Doli’, a reward of Rs. 800 is being given to each one carrying the ‘Doli’. In case the sick person is not cured at PHC, arrangements are made to send him or her to King George Hospital here or to a local corporate hospital.
To encourage and help the Girijan youth to appear and succeed in the written test for police recruitment, training is being imparted to them under "Sadhana" programme. The Girijan youths are provided food and accommodation during the training programme.
A model colony was built at K. Panasaputtu under Pothangi Panchayat in Dumbriguda mandal which is named after Mr. Siva Sankar.
More attention is being paid to the tourist places in the Agency. The Chaparayi water falls and Kollaputtu water falls are improved and more amenities are created for tourists, apart from improving the Girijan Museum and Padmapuram gardens in Araku Valley mandal, he said. For the first time details and history of millions of years old Borra caves were displayed in Telugu on sign boards near the entrance of the caves. Mr. Siva Sankar has also written a book on the history of Borra caves.
