Zero interest loans by Aug 10th
AP CM reviews PR, RD Dept
Amaravati, July 31: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to focus on resurvey of lands in villages, establish digital libraries in rural and urban areas while encouraging self-employment schemes for women on a large scale under the Cheyutha programme.
At a review meeting of the Panchayar Raj and Rural Department held here on Monday, the Chief Minister said that the women beneficiaries of Cheyutha would be fully benefitted if the first tranche amounts are utilised for self employment schemes.
He said that zero-interest loan scheme for women would be implemented on August 10.
There should be a constant review of the employment programmes taken up by the PR Department and a separate wing should be established for assessing the implementation of these programmes, he said, adding that officials should hand hold the self-help groups of women based on periodical assessment reports for running their units successfully
Officials told the Chief Minister that AP has put up exemplary performance at the national level by completing 18.90crore man days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as against the target of 24crore man days.
Out of a total estimated expenditure of Rs. 9600crore, Rs, 3860crore would be paid towards wages, they said.
The Chief Minister was also informed that the construction of village and ward secretariats is progressing rapidly and the work would be completed by September end. Under Jagananna Saswatha Bhuhakku- Bhu Raksha, drone survey of lands has been completed in 10, 943 villages and land documents are being handed over to the owners.
The Chief Minister said that appointment of surveyors in all village secretariats has helped completion of survey at fast pace and AP is the only state to have launched registration services in villages.
He asked them to first identify the places for construction and complete the construction of RBKs, digital libraries and village clinics.
The Chief Minister also told them to pay special attention on Jagananna Colonies and ensure pleasant and hygienic ambience by providing all basic facilities and excellent sanitation. “There should be no compromise on this count,” he said.
The Government is giving Rs. 18,750 each to members of women’s self help groups every year totaling to Rs. 75,000 in four years under YSR Cheyutha. “You should focus on providing them bank loans and encourage them to start self-employment units for generating more revenue so that they would have economic empowerment,” he said.
In July, 62,99,393 persons were given pension and an amount of Rs.1735.36crore was spent on this per month, officials told him, while Rs.19,178.17crore was given under YSR Aasara and Rs. 14,129.11crore was incurred under YSR Zero Interest Scheme in the last three years. It helped 13 lakh people in the rural areas gain livelihood, officials informed.
They said that the Mahila Marts, established by the self-help groups, have done a business of Rs. 32.44crore and 36 Mahila Marts have been established so far.
He asked them to make the Jagananna Thodu scheme applicable to self-employed women.
“Women belong to the voiceless group and hence officials should work for their progress by negotiating with banks to reduce the interest rate on their loans. We succeeded in reducing the interest rate on self-help group bank loans to 9 per cent mostly. Similarly, you should try to reduce the interest rate on Stree Nidhi loans also to 9 per cent,” the Chief Minister said.
Deputy Chief Minister (PR & RD) B. Muthyala Naidu, CS K.S. Jawahar Reddy, Special CS (PR & RD) B. Rajasekhar, Finance Secretary KVV Satyanarayana, PR & RD Commissioner A. Surya Kumari, SVAMITVA Special Commissioner Dr A. Siri, SERP CEO A Md Imtiaz, Swachha Andhra Corporation MD J. Venkata Murali and other officials were present.
