The State Government has started deploying women home guards in strength at hostels and Ashram schools across the State for protection of the girl students.
A total of 450 women home guards had already been deployed so far while the Government is in the process of recruiting another 550 women home guards for protecting the girl students at hostels and Ashrams. This was informed at a meeting of the Tribal Consultative Committee held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Raman Singh here on Tuesday.
The meeting also took a significant decision to accord ‘Revenue Village’ status to a total of 431 Forest villages in the State. The Central Government has approved the proposal \\ of providing the ‘Forest villages’ the status of ‘Revenue villages.’ An order to this effect would be issued by the State Government within a week , an official statement issued here on Thursday stated.
Moreover, a total of 2.82 lakh Forest dwelling families had so far been offered Forest Rights Recognition letters by the State Government. Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Minister stated that with the Centre’s approval to convert the Forest villages to Revenue villages would now make thousands of families eligible for Government facilities.
Principal Secretary, Forest Department, Sunil Kumar Kujur said that the order converting the Forest Villages to Revenue villages would be sent to the district collectors and the concerned \\ officers within a week for implementation.