Hyderabad: Dalits in Vasalamarri village, adopted by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, were in for a pleasant surprise on Wednesday as he suddenly launched the much-awaited Dalita Bandhu scheme on the spot without any prior intimation to extend Rs 10 lakh benefit to each of the 76 Dalit families in the village.
Moved by the pathetic living conditions of Dalits in poorly-maintained Dalitwadas during a three-hour padayatra, the Chief Minister advanced the launch of Dalit Bandhu and made it on the spot, much to the disbelief of the locals. He sanctioned Rs 7.6 crore on the spot to cover all 76 Dalit families in the village at one go. With this, Dalit Bandhu has become operational with Vasalamarri village the first beneficiary.
As per the original plan, the Chief Minister was supposed to launch the Dalit Bandhu on August 16 in Huzurabad Assembly constituency as a pilot programme and all arrangements are being made for this event. This event will only be a formal launch now.
Addressing the beneficiaries on the occasion, the Chief Minister stated that Rs 7.6 crore would be at the disposal of the Bhongir collector by Thursday morning and asked Dalits to claim the benefit on Thursday itself. He asked the collector to disburse the amount to Dalits immediately after enquiring what they intended to do with that amount.
The CM asked Dalits to discuss within their families what self-employment they wanted to pursue by utilising Rs 10 lakh, inform the collector the same and claim the benefit. He made it clear that the entire choice of selecting any self-employment would be left to Dalits and the government would not force them to pursue any particular activity.
He cautioned them not to take decisions in haste in their eagerness to claim Rs 10 lakh benefit at the earliest but take their own time before taking a final decision on their choice of utilising money.
"It doesn't matter if you take 15 days or one month to make a decision on how to utilise the money. The money will not go anywhere. The amount will be with the collector. Don't take decisions in haste. The entire family should sit together, discuss all the options and make a wise decision which should click and you should prosper. This amount should not go to waste," the Chief Minister advised.
He urged the Dalits at Vasalamarri to achieve desired results of Dalit Bandhu and save him from the criticism of all those opposing the programme.
"Some people called me mad when I announced the Rs 10 lakh benefit to each Dalit family in the state. If you succeed and prosper with this scheme in Vasalamarri, everyone will praise me for my decision. If not, they will criticise me for introducing a failed scheme. Now it's in your hands whether you want me to be victorious in implementation of Dalit Bandhu or leave me to face criticism of all," the Chief Minister said.
