Municipal Administration and Minority Affairs Minister Qamarul Islam has said that more than 75 per cent of the population in the State is benefited by the welfare measures and programmes launched by the government.
Speaking at the ‘Jana Mana’ programme here on Saturday, he said that the government decided to host the programme at district headquarters to get a feedback on their implementation and to identify flaws, if any.
The programme was organised by the Information and Public Relation Department and the district administration.
Deputy Commissioner Vipul Bansal said that such a direct one-to-one interaction with the beneficiaries was being held at the district-level for the first time and this would go long way in streamlining the implementation of these schemes.
Mr. Qamarul said that free rice and wheat were being supplied under the Anna Bhagya and Antodya schemes. While the Antodya card holders numbering 66,846 were being provided 29 kg of rice and 6 kg of wheat, BPL card holders numbering more than 4.24 lakh were being provided 3 kg of rice and 2 kg of wheat per unit. Under the Krishi Bhagya scheme, 1,995 farmers were provided assistance for the construction of Krishi Hondas, poly houses and drip irrigation schemes last year in five of the seven taluks in the district.
In the current year all the taluks had been brought under the scheme, and a nearly 2,420 farmers were extended assistance.
Mr. Qamarul said that nearly 3.6 lakh school students had been covered under the Ksheera Bhagya scheme of providing milk three days a week to schoolchildren. He claimed that it helped bring down malnutrition among students and also improved the attendance and reduced drop out rates.
He said under the Runamukta scheme, the government waived Rs. 33.59 crore taken as loans the and interest obtained from development corporations from 1977 to 2013.
Under the Vidyashree programme to provide scholarship to students to pursue their higher students, Rs. 5.56 crore had been sanctioned to 6,374 students in the past two years.
