Mulugu: Women and child welfare minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka on Thursday said the state government was taking governance to villages through Praja Darbar programmes to address public grievances at the grassroots.
Participating in a Praja Darbar at the Zilla Parishad High School in Rajupet village of Mangapet mandal, she, along with district collector Borkhade Hemant Sahadeorao, received petitions from residents of several villages in the mandal.
Applications were submitted by residents of Akkinapalli Mallaram, Brahmanapalli, Rajupet, Katthigudem, Nimmagudem, Domeda, Ramachandrunipet, Vadegudem, Ramanakkapet, Chunchupalli and Vagudugudem gram panchayats seeking solutions to civic and welfare issues.
The minister said the government was prioritising the strengthening of women’s self-help groups and promoting their economic independence. She said over Rs 61,000 crore had been extended as interest-free loans to women’s groups in the state.
She said the loan ceiling for self-help groups had been increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to support larger income-generating activities and improve livelihoods.
She said self-help groups were playing a key role in strengthening the rural economy and were being given priority in managing dairy collection and procurement centres.
On the Praja Darbar initiative, she said it was aimed at ensuring that people need not travel to district headquarters, with grievance redressal being taken to villages.
“Every petition received through the Praja Darbar programme will be carefully examined and processed. A special mechanism has been put in place to study the feasibility of each request and resolve issues within a stipulated timeframe,” she said.
Referring to the Indiramma housing scheme, she said transparency was being maintained in allotments and that priority was being given to homeless and economically weaker families.
She said eligible beneficiaries would receive housing assistance without discrimination.
The district collector said a special application format had been introduced to facilitate submission of grievances and that petitions would be processed department-wise and monitored until disposal. He said reasons would be communicated in cases where requests could not be addressed.
Earlier, the minister and the collector laid the foundation stone for a mandal parishad office building at Mangapet, to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.5 crore.
Later, they inaugurated a science laboratory building at the Zilla Parishad High School in Rajupet.
Lenin Vatsal Toppo, Manan Bhatt, CH Mahender G., Sampath Rao, Banoth Ravichander, Rega Kalyani and Krishnaveni were present.