Backlog SC posts to be filled by year-end: CM

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, APRIL 5. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, on Thursday, gave an assurance to the Scheduled Castes that all the backlog posts reserved for them would be filled by the year- end.

Speaking after inaugurating the Babu Jagjivan Ram Bhavan, commemorating the former Deputy Prime Minister's 94th birth anniversary, the Chief Minister said 11,100 backlog posts had already been filled.

It was built at a cost of Rs.96.71 lakhs on a 1.4-acre plot at Saroornagar. The Chief Minister unveiled the bust of Babu Jagjivan Ram and distributed assets worth Rs.72.66 lakhs, including 10 Maruti van taxis (Citi Cabs), to the SC beneficiaries. Several of his Cabinet colleagues, MPs and MLAs paid rich tributes to Babu Jagjivan Ram.

Mr. Naidu said a massive poverty alleviation programme was being taken up with Rs.3,350-crore assistance from the World Bank and the U.K.'s Department for International Development. It was aimed at bringing 40 lakh poor people above the poverty line and a majority of these beneficiaries would be from Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

Listing out various schemes for the benefit of SCs being implemented by the Government, he said the budget allocation for the Social Welfare Department had been raised from Rs. 354 crores four years ago to over Rs. 600 crores this year. The residential schools for SCs numbering 203 in the State were the highest in the country. A number of candidates in reserved categories had benefited from coaching at the AP Study Circle and so far 23 had been selected to the IAS, 34 to the IPS and two to the IFS.

On a suggestion from Mr. N. Indrasena Reddy, BJP MLA, Mr. Naidu said an advisory committee would be constituted for Babu Jagjivan Ram Bhavan to promote the philosophy of the Dalit leader.

The Union Minister of State for Urban Development, Mr. B. Dattatreya, wanted the Government to allocate 80 per cent of the budget for social welfare on residential schools.

The Social Welfare Minister, Mrs. K. Pushpaleela, said it was the Telugu Desam Government which had raised the budget allocation by a whopping 68 per cent for social welfare besides distribution of land to 33,655 landless poor belonging to SC.

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Section  : Southern States
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