Avail Sub Plan benefits, Sarvey tells Dalits

Vijayawada: The Union Minister of State for Surface Transport, Sarvey Satyanarayana, here on Monday asked the Dalits to make better use of funds allocated under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Sub Plan. The Minister participated in the Sub Plan awareness meetings held in the city at K L Rao Nagar and Giripuram, organised by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. The Minister said that the Sub Plan was introduced by the Congress Government for the overall development of these neglected sections. He said that the State and the Central governments were allocating thousands of crores of rupees and felt that the beneficiaries should take initiative and make use of the funds. He said that the State government had for the first time introduced the Sub Plan for the SCs and STs and wanted these sections to get the benefit. He said that the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh have directed all the Chief Ministers to introduce the Sub Plan in their respective States for the benefit of the most deprived sections. It was only Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kirankumar Reddy who had taken the initiative and implemented the directions. He thanked the Cabinet Sub Committee headed by the Deputy Chief Minister Damodara Rajanarasimha which had studied the Sub Plan need and made recommendations to the State government. He said that the Sub Plan funds would be utilised according to the requirements of the beneficiaries, he said and wanted people to prioritise their needs. City legislators Malladi Vishnu and Vellampalli Srinivas, Social Welfare Department Assistant Director MJK Rathnakumari, Scheduled Castes Corporation Executive Sirector, K Sivasankara Rao, former deputy mayors S Narasaraju and S P Gritton, the city Congress working president, Meesala Rajeswara Rao and in-charge president, Adapa Sivanagendra were among those who were present with the Minister. The Union Minister reiterated that the government would construct a bridge at Kanakaudrga temple to solve the frequent traffic problem. The Minister visited the Kanakadurga temple atop Indrakeeladri Hill here and worshiped the presiding deity. Later, interacting with the media persons, the Minister recalled that the Union government had already sanctioned Rs 36 crore for the bridge. The bridge would come up from Kummaripalem Centre easing the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway traffic, he added. However, he said that the construction of the bridge was delayed as the designs were to be changed to suit to the prevailing conditions. The Minister said that the officials were now in consultation with the contractor for changes to the design and would start the work soon. When his attention was drawn to the opposition to the bridge by the local MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, the Minister said that he had no information about the MP's opposition. He said that the MP did not meet him so far on the bridge ever since he took over charge as Minister. However, he said he would consult the local leaders before taking up the work. Satyanarayana further said that he had instructed the highway authority to provide a divider from the Kummaripalem Centre to the Ashok pillar to avoid frequent traffic congestion on the highway. He expressed confidence that the divider would solve the problem temporarily and reiterated that the proposed bridge would solve the problem permanently. Earlier, the temple executive officer, K Prabhakara Srinivas, and the priests received the Minister with temple honours. The local MLA, Vellampalli Srinivas and a number of the Congress leaders were present along with the Minister.