[Reader-list] Gujarat -Plan to provide Rs.5, 000-cr to poor women by 2014:Mod

[Pawan Durani]

Chief Minister Shri Narendrabhai Modi reiterated his commitment to
free the poor from the shackles of exploitation through Garib Kalyan
Mela addressing the second Shaheri Garib Kalyan Mela at Bapunagar in
Ahmedabad.

Modi said that Gujarat has discovered an infallible medicine in Garib
Melas to cure the malady of poverty, establishing a direct contact
with the poor, eliminating the moneylenders and middlemen.

He said that our leaders have for the last 60 years provided just lip
service to the poor, used them as a vote bank and filled their own
coffers.

Assistance-equipment worth Rs.21.38-crore under 31 schemes were
distributed to 7,094 beneficiaries in ten wards of Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation in the Bapunagar area today. The first such Shaheri Garib
Kalyan Mela was held in the Odhav locality earlier this week, having
extended over Rs.64.94-crore to 13,119 beneficiaries so far.

Earlier, nearly Rs.2,700-crore direct assistance have been provided to
25 poor families in 50-odd Garib Melas in rural areas.

Similarly, he said the plan is to provide Rs.5,000-cr for economic
empowerment of poor women by 2014. Over Rs.400-cr has already been
extended to 1.25-lakh Sakhi Mandals so far. These Sakhi Mandals are
managing their own accounts. He said that Rs.1,000-cr has been
earmarked on this head for the current year as part of Gujarat’s
Golden Jubilee celebrations.

This newly discovered method of extending direct assistance to the
poor has lent them the inherent strength to themselves fight poverty.
In case any one received sub-standard or defective equipment, one
could immediately inform the government by just sending across a
postcard.