Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, whose unilateral announcement of Bangaru Talli scheme invited criticism from his cabinet and party colleagues, has decided to give statutory status to the scheme on the lines of the SC/ST Sub-plan Act.
Addressing a public meeting at Kalikiri and Piler on Monday, he said that Bangaru Talli would be accorded the statutory status in the next Assembly session to ensure the continuance of the scheme forever whichever party may be in power.
Under the scheme, the mother of a girl child will get Rs 2,500 soon after delivery and Rs 2,000 every year for first two years for vaccination, Rs 1,500 every year for five continuous years through Anganwadis, Rs 2,000 every year for studies from Class 1 to 5, Rs 2,500 every year from Class 6 to 10, Rs 3,500 each for two-year study of Intermediate, Rs 4,000 per year for three- year study of graduation and Rs 1 lakh a year for post-graduation and higher education, he explained.
Taking a dig at leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu, who too hails from Chittoor district, the chief minister alleged that Naidu did nothing for his home district during his nine-year tenure except closing the Chittoor dairy and sugar factories run by cooperative societies.
Though the TDP chief took up a lengthy padayatra thinking that people would forgive his mistakes, people were not ready to trust him as they were well aware of his true colours, he remarked.
On the first day of his two-day visit to his Piler constituency, Kiran Kumar Reddy inaugurated some projects and laid foundation stones for some others.
He declared that he would lay the foundation stone for the prestigious National Industrial and Manufacturing Zone at Piler very soon. The Rs 3,600-crore manufacturing cluster is aimed at providing employment to three lakh people of the district.
He said a permanent project to provide sufficient drinking water to the entire Chittoor district from Kandaleru river would also be taken up soon at a cost of Rs 7,390 crore.