“You should know what the government is providing for you and all must understand that education is important,” Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy told Girijans during an interaction at Dalimputtu village near here on Wednesday.
Mr. Reddy handed over certificates to 800 farmers giving them possession of the land they were cultivating, under the Restoration of Forest Rights Act and during the interaction with some farmers explained that under the ST Sub Plan the allocation made in the planned budget, Rs. 4,200 crore on the basis of the 6.6 per cent of ST population in the State, would be spent only on them.
He also announced that permits for collecting forest produce would be given by the panchayat or the GCC from now on. Till now the Forest Department was issuing the permits. The programme would be launched in Chintapalli mandal on January 3, he said.
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Mr. Reddy enquired how they were running the family and the work they get under NREGS and farming. He stressed on educating the children. Every child must study up to degree or PG level and they should not be satisfied with completing high school. Education would help in many ways, including taking good care of health.
A tribal farmer told the Chief Minister that he did not go to school but was sending his children to a private school. He urged the Chief Minister to take steps for establishing a government day school or a residential school in the area.
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The Chief Minister’s visit was held in spite of a bandh call by the opposition parties, except the Telugu Desam, demanding that the government make a firm commitment that bauxite mining would not be allowed in the Agency. Traffic was blocked for a while at Araku Valley but there was no obstruction to the movement of APSTRC buses. Police earlier took into preventive custody leaders and workers of Left parties and YSRC who tried to enforce the bandh.