Governor calls for women empowerment

Narsapuram: Governor ESL Narsimhan underscored the need to empower women through education and the requisite self-employment skills for enabling them tread the path of financial self reliance. He called upon the women to develop economically by utilising the welfare schemes being implemented by the government. He visited Alankriti Lace Park at Sitaramapuram in Narsapuram mandal of West Godavari district on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, the Governor exhorted the parents to inculcate moral values in their kids and teach them to respect the women. He directed the officials to implement strict laws in the women police stations for the safety of women. He ordered the officials to appoint woman constables in all the police stations. When the women workers said that they could not study beyond Class 10 during the interaction, he suggested to West Godavari Collector Dr G Vani Mohan to impart education to them through distance education. Earlier, he inspected lace products made by women and interacted with the women about their work, income and marketing. In turn, the women said that earlier they used to earn around Rs 30 per week by doing lace work but now they are earning Rs 300 per week after getting expertise in lace work. When the Governor asked about the government schemes, Addanki Bhagyalakshmi from Sitarampuram replied that her family was receiving 16 kgs of rice from fair price shop as they hold a White ration card and she was sending her children to school. Rangashetty Nagalakshmi and Uppu Satyavathi of Pasaladivi said in unison that they are living decent life as they are earning over Rs 3,000 per month by working in the lace park. Furthermore, the Governor suggested to the officials to see that Re one a kg rice, pensions, Arogyasri, free education, interest free loans reach the real beneficiaries and asked the beneficiaries to inform the officials concerned if they found anybody utilising the benefits meant for the poor. He lauded the measures taken up by the Collector in the use of solar energy. "We are witnessing power cuts due Godato shortage of coal and gas based power generation, hence, we should concentrate on solar energy," he suggested.