BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday rolled out the ‘Mission Shakti Scooter Yojana’ which seeks to provide crucial mobility support to 2 lakh Mission Shakti federation leaders and community staff of the state.
Under the scheme, the SHG members will get full interest subvention on bank loans up to Rs 1 lakh for purchase of scooters. The government will pay Rs 528 crore as interest for the loans over the next five years. On the inaugural day, scooters were distributed to 15,000 members.
Naveen said Odisha has taken a step forward on the path of women’s empowerment by providing mobility support to the WSHG members. The scheme, he said, will open up new opportunities for them. Mobility is empowerment, he said adding, the scheme will further strengthen Mission Shakti which now boasts of 70 lakh members.
On the occasion, he announced that Mission Shakti federations at block and district levels will be provided vehicles for official work which will improve the federations’ efficiency. “The aim of the government is to make entrepreneurs out of WSHG members and for this, assistance of Rs 150 crore is being given to them”, the chief minister stated.
Minister of State for Mission Shakti Saraswati Hembram said community support staff, business correspondent agent and executive committee members of WSHGs at block and district levels will be able to purchase scooters of their choice under the scheme. Mission Shakti secretary Sujata Karthikeyan said launch of the scheme is a milestone step.