VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday announced a 10 per cent increase in diet charges for students in social welfare hostels and Gurukuls, and directed officials to implement the revised charges from the second quarter of the current financial year.
Despite a plea from the Finance Department to postpone the implementation due to financial constraints, the Chief Minister instructed them to implement the revised diet charges from the second quarter of this fiscal, stating that the lives of BC, SC, ST and Minority communities can be transformed through education.
He also stressed that students studying in the Social Welfare Department institutions should get education of high quality standards on par with private institutions. More Gurukul institutions should be set up across the State.
Priority should be given to constructing Gurukuls instead of conventional social welfare hostels, he said, underlining the need for assessment of the benefits of implementing Net Zero practices in residential schools.
The government has allocated Rs 100 crore for social welfare hostels and residential schools for maintenance. Naidu also directed officials to train students in hostels and Gurukuls for higher education and competitive examinations.Best teachers should be recruited to provide quality coaching to students, he said.
The Chief Minister said NRIs should be encouraged to adopt welfare hostels. Strong alumni networks should also be developed for welfare hostels, Gurukuls, residential and Ashram schools to develop infrastructure. Professionals should be encouraged to provide voluntary educational and medical services in these institutions, he said.
Naidu said welfare should go beyond financial assistance, and help improve the livelihoods of weaker sections.
Naidu: Ensure schemes reach disadvantaged
He instructed officials to ensure that development schemes effectively reach disadvantaged sections.
He also stressed promoting cultivation of horticulture crops, rubber, coffee and turmeric to improve farmers’ incomes in these communities, and noted that the government has already provided reservation in liquor shops for traditional toddy tappers, quota in quarries for Vaddera community, and financial assistance to barbers, fishermen and handloom workers.
He directed them to prepare comprehensive proposals for further improving the economic status of various communities, and examine amendments to the by-laws of different caste corporations, taking the Brahmin Corporation’s model as a benchmark. Anganwadi buildings should be constructed under VB-G RAM G, he said.
Officials informed him that a smart card-based telephone system has been introduced for students experiencing homesickness, to enable them to speak with their parents for four minutes a day.
They also informed Naidu that under the SASCI scheme, infrastructure works worth Rs 120 crore, including installation of RO plants, construction of toilets and other facilities in social welfare and tribal welfare schools, have been taken up.
Ministers Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy, S Savitha, G Sandhya Rani and NMD Farooq, and Minority Welfare Advisor Mohammed Sharif participated in the meeting.
