Dharamsala (HP), Feb 4 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday announced increasing the grant to families belonging to the Scheduled Castes for purchase of tools and also declared naming one college library in each district after Dalit icon B R Ambedkar.
Presiding over the meeting of Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Castes Welfare Board here, the chief minister said the grant to SC families for purchase of tools will be raised from Rs 1,300 to Rs 5,000 and that for sewing machine from Rs 1,800 to Rs 5,000 to facilitate the people of these communities.
He also announced that one college library in each district of the state would be named after Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar as a mark of respect to the principal architect of the Indian Constitution.
The chief minister said the main concern of the Himachal Pradesh government was to uplift the people belonging to Scheduled Castes and top priority was being laid to ensure that they get maximum benefits of the welfare schemes initiated by the state as well as the central governments.
He said that a transparent mechanism should be adopted to ensure that a genuine beneficiary was not deprived of being selected for various welfare schemes. He said that complete transparency must also be ensured in selection of BPL families from SC community.
Thakur said the state government has constructed Ambedkar Bhawans in all the Assembly constituencies. He said about 51 have been already completed and remaining were in different stages of completion.
He said the state government has launched a special recruitment drive to fill up the backlog of SC vacancies in government jobs and directed police to take stern action in cases of atrocities against people belonging to this community.
The chief minister said adequate funds have been made available for providing water, paths and street lights in Scheduled Castes-dominated villages.
The state government recently decided to enhance income limit for availing benefits of various welfare schemes meant for this community from existing Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000 per annum, he noted.
Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Sarveen Chaudhary said an amount Rs 929 crore was being spent for providing social security pension to different categories in the state during the current financial year.
Principal Secretary R.D. Nazeem, Director Social Justice and Empowerment Vivek Bhatia, Chief Whip and MLA Vikram Jaryal, Dharamshala MLA Vishal Nehria, Director Rural Development Rugved Thakur, Kangra Deputy Commissioner Nipun Jindal were among others present on the occasion. Other Deputy Commissioners joined the meeting virtually from their respective districts. PTI COR CK
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