Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday distributed free cycles, sewing machines, irrigation pumps, solar lamps, mosquito nets and other materials worth Rs 74.43 lakh to 3,873 beneficiaries of Jhalmala and Chilfi villages in Kabirdham district under the various beneficiary-oriented schemes of the State Government.
Addressing public meetings organised in these villages, the chief Minister said that giving food, nutrition, and health security was the top priority of the Government and so far the State has achieved success in this direction. Giving all the three securities to the residents, the Government is moving fast forward in building a healthy and prosperous Chhattisgarh, he added. Raman said that after keeping continuous improvement in the public distribution system, Chhattisgarh had prepared the first food security Act in the country and from this year nutrition security was also added in it. About 50 lakh families of the State were being benefited from this food and nutrition security scheme, he added.
He said that to give health security to all the 56 lakh families of the State smart cards were being distributed. Through the smart card each family would get free medical treatment facility upto a maximum limit of Rs 30,000 per year. CM said that by including nutrition security in the Chhattisgarh Food Security Act 2012, the State Government has made a provision of Rs 1,500 crore in the budget of the current financial year. Moreover, a target has been fixed to provide Rs 3,000 crore agriculture loan at one per cent interest rate during both Kharif and Rabi season this year and so far, Rs 1,500 crore loan has been distributed among the farmers, he added.
The Chief Minister performed bhumi poojan and dedicated various development and construction works, including construction of cement concrete road, costing Rs 1.27 crore at Jhalmala. He said that under the Asian Development Bank Project, construction of a road costing Rs 105 crore from Chilfi to Rajnandgaon via the Baiga adivasi and Vanvasi dominated areas of Rengakhar and Salhewara has been sanctioned. The Chief Minister said that the State Government had done many important works to link this specially backward tribal families with the mainstream of development, since last several years.