Govt aims to provide water to every house

House passes Rs 3612.59 crore-budgetary demands for Tribal Welfare and PHE departments through voice vote

Raipur, March 28, 2012

The government has targeted to provide drinking water to each and every house. “Whether a family resides on a hilltop or any remote area, the government will ensure to provide water to all such families,” said Tribal Welfare and Public Health Engineering (PHE) Minister Kedar Kashyap while demanding budgetary grants for his departments at state Assembly on Wednesday. The House passed the budgetary demands of Rs 3612.59 crore for these departments through voice vote.

He informed the House that the government had approved 28 urban drinking water schemes for which there is a provision of Rs 116 crore in the budget. “Similarly, to provide drinking water in the rural pockets through hand pumps, the government will spend Rs 29.90 crore,” he said.

He claimed that the government had imparted unique identity to Chhattisgarh in the country by launching various development programmes for SC and ST communities for their social, economical and cultural upliftment. He termed the state as prototype in India in terms of its SC/ST programmes.

He also termed the 32 percent of quota provision by the government for SC community a significant step.

He informed the House that the government had improved the condition of ashram-hostels and developed them into prototypes. “Presently, there are 658 ashram-hostels in different districts of the state,” he said.

He announced that 100 higher secondary schools would be opened in the scheduled areas. “About 650 tribal students will be benefited by these schools,” he said.

He further declared that post matric scholarship scheme would be launched to encourage tribal students for pursuance of higher studies. “The beneficiary students will get scholarship electronic cards.  The entire procedure of scholarship distribution will be computerised so that the students may not wait for long time to obtain their scholarship,” he said.

He informed the House that the government had simplified process of issuing caste certificates. He said the department would also organise camps to rapidly issue caste certificates to the students from class 9^th and above. “For this, the government has made provision of Rs 1.10 crore in the budget,” he added.

“The government is also attempting to make the tribals self-reliant and financially stronger. For this, they are encouraged to start their own business. About 600 SC/ST persons are presently operating their independent business establishments,” he said.

“The constitution of SC Development Authority is the first of its kind in country and the state government aims to benefit the SC community through it. The government will spend Rs 30 crore through this Authority in 2012-13,” he informed.

He said considering prospects in nursing the government had made provision of Rs 9.52 crore in budget to impart training to about 400 tribal students in the specific discipline.

He also announced hike in financial succor to devgudis from Rs 25000 to Rs 50000.