During the past seven years, the Gujarat Government has distributed assistance worth Rs12,000 crore to nearly 81 lakh beneficiaries in over 1,000 Garib Kalyan Melas across the State, claimed Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Saturday.
Garib Kalyan Mela, an initiative of former Gujarat Chief Minister and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is an annual event of the Gujarat Government since 2008. Patel while addressing a gathering at Chhotaudepur in Central Gujarat on the second day of phase-2 of Garib Kalyan Mela–2015, suggested industrial houses to adopt schools for the education of economically backward people’s children.
On the day, she distributed assistance and kits worth Rs11.32 crore to 6,443 beneficiaries at Pavi Jetpur in the predominantly tribal district of Chhotaudepur. They included beneficiaries from Chhotaudepur, Pavi Jetpur and Kwant tehsils. The Chief Minister also dedicated Rs1.42-crore for panchayat building at Pavi Jetpur, besides launching Tejas smart tablet for intensive monitoring of campaign against malnutrition and Setu android application for the security of women.
She also commissioned the CCTV network in six police stations of Chhotaudepur district, the Rs25-crore newly-built modern Seva Sadan at Chhotaudepur, and Charoli Collection of CDs on Minor Forest Produces prepared by the Forest Department about the Bordha Self-Help Group. She asked the tribal women to supplement their income through vermi-culture with the help of three-tier state government agency for the SHGs.
Speaking on the occasion, Patel asked the beneficiaries to make maximum utilisation of the Government’s various welfare schemes with hard works, come out of the stigma of poverty, and be self-reliant and contribute to the state’s development. She described announcement of 196 hamlets in the forest areas of the State as revenue villages and distribution of land deeds to 78,000 people living in the forests as historic events. The State Government has started 85 new schools, including one Sainik School and Eklavya Model Residency School, in forest areas of the State.