The Hindu Business Line : AP Scheduled castes co-op finance draws up Rs 231-cr action plan

THE Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Co-operative Finance Corporation (APSCCFC) has firmed up an action plan with an outlay of Rs 231 crore for the current financial year.

Disclosing this at a media conference, its Chairman, Mr R.D. Wilson, said the action plan includes Rs 118 crore for self-employment scheme, Rs 85 crore for minor irrigation and land-based scheme, Rs 23 crore for land purchased schemes and Rs 6 crore for training and awareness programme.

According to him, the land purchase scheme of the Corporation was one of the most important one, where land was purchased and allotted to the Scheduled Castes (SC) landless agricultural labourers.

The Corporation has so far purchased 65,425 acres of land and allotted it to 54,450 beneficiaries involving a cost of Rs 153 crore. During the current fiscal, the Corporation proposes to increase the budgetary provision under the scheme from the existing Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 crore to each district.

Towards this, an amount of Rs 20 crore has been requisitioned from the State Government, he said.

The Corporation also proposes to take up construction of shopping complexes and amusement parks shortly, Mr Wilson said. The idea came after the Corporation found crores of rupees worth of its open lands were lying idle at different parts of the State.

The Corporation has also noticed that most of its shopping complexes were being occupied by non-SCs under the garb of benami names.

Accordingly, strong efforts were being mooted to evict benami occupants from the shopping complexes, Mr Wilson said.

The cases of non-SCs occupying the Corporation's shops were identified in the districts of Nellore, Kurnool, Ongole and Vizag, he said.

Aimed at making the SC educated unemployed youth to stand on their feet and eke out their own livelihood, the Corporation proposes to impart training in various vocational courses such as fashion technology, leather, printing and dying, lab-technician and driving courses.

The Corporation has also initiated measures for the placement of trained youth in different companies.

Towards this, it has set up monitoring cells at the State and district level.

The Corporation has also increased the stipend amount for the trainees of various skills from the existing Rs 350 per month to Rs 500 per month, he said.

To enable the SC students pursue professional courses, the Corporation has announced the launch of new educational loans titled `Ambedkar Vidya Prabha'.

According to Mr Wilson, an amount of Rs 3 lakh would be offered for pursuing MBBS courses, Rs 2 lakh for engineering and Rs 1 lakh for MBA courses under the new scheme.

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