THE administration Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district is in the process of implementing several welfare schemes, says Collector K. Ramgopal. Among them are unique programmes that provide quality education and health care for children, and improve the conditions in government hostels. According to Ramgopal, the district has abundant natural resources that can go a long way in its industrial development. The district administration is taking up projects on a grand scale with a dedicated team of officers.
Nellore district is the first in the country to start call centres that receive and redress grievances from students in government-run hostels for the Backward Classes, and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. The district administration has introduced coaching programmes for the Engineering, Agriculture and Medicine Common Entrance Test.
Under the Drusti' programme, eye screening was done for three lakh children and spectacles were distributed to 10,000 students in government schools free of cost. Nearly 2,000 students required surgical operations, Ramgopal said.
The Rajiv Arogyasri Health Insurance Scheme, the dream project of the late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, is providing quality treatment for the poor in rural areas; about 22.83 lakh below the poverty line families have benefited from it. Under the scheme, 11 network hospitals in the district were recognised and treatment is being given for 942 diseases. As of May, 606 camps were conducted, nearly one lakh patients were screened and surgical operations were performed on 29,861 patients at a cost of Rs.83.57 crore.
Around 40 medical camps are organised in primary health centres, urban health centres, area hospitals, community health centres and at the Government Headquarters Hospital in Nellore every month to screen patients, said the Arogyasri Nellore District Coordinator G. Narayana.
The district administration proposes to give special training for youth in skilled jobs at polytechnics and Industrial Training Institutes, and run them on a shift system. A Central Training Institute is to come up in Nellore city. The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) is training women's self-help groups (SHG) in various jobs; it has a tie-up with Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation to train drivers at its zonal training college. DRDA Project Director L. Vijay Chander said 3,182 rural youth were provided jobs in various agencies. A total of 34,110 SHGs with a total membership of 3,75,323 have been formed, and Rs.213 crore was disbursed as loans in 2009-10.
Under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the District Water Management Agency distributed 4,64,697 job cards and completed 21,171 works worth Rs.2.62 crore. As many as 88 watersheds were completed and 72 are under construction.
The district administration, in association with the National Fisheries Development Board, plans to raise fish seedlings in the Somasila reservoir and at Padugupadu village. A fishing harbour at Juvvaladinne village and four fish-landing centres are proposed.
A proposal of Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited to install a gas-based fertilizer manufacturing industry with an investment of Rs.10,000 crore, is under consideration. The new power plants being commissioned are expected to generate about 15,000 MW in the coming years, which would solve the power problem in the district to a large extent, the Collector said.
Rajulapudi SrinivasCOMMents
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