Meeting of Scheduled Caste panel held

HP Scheduled Caste Commission (HPSCC) Chairman Kuldeep Kumar Dhiman presided over the first review meeting at the multi-purpose hall here on Tuesday.

He said compensation of Rs 7 lakh each had been provided to 686 people, whose houses were damaged due to floods.

Out of the 686 persons, 403 beneficiaries belonged to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, he added. The chairman directed the officials present at the meeting to make efforts to provide maximum benefit of government schemes to backward and poor people of the SC community. Various schemes, including those for skill development, were being run by the government for the community, he added.

He said beneficiaries should be benefitted through various programmes under the Scheduled Caste Development Programme (SCDP). Under the SCDP, the government had chalked out a budget of Rs 46.17 crore in the current financial year, out of which Rs 21.93 crore had been spent so far, he added. He said the Scheduled Caste Development Corporation was providing benefits to members of the SC community through various schemes.

Under the Scheduled Castes Atrocities Prevention Act, compensation of Rs 67.88 lakh had been provided to 96 victims from 2022 so far, Dhiman added.

He said all departments should ensure that basic facilities such as roads, electricity, water, education, health were available to SC settlements. He thanked Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for launching the Maharishi Valmiki Kamgar Yojana.

He said, “Rs 3 lakh will be provided to sanitation workers of the Valmiki community under the scheme. The scheme is also applicable to those whose annual income is less than Rs 2.5 lakhs and who do not have housing.”

He added that the current state government, under the leadership of the CM, had launched several welfare initiatives to uplift the deprived sections of the society. The proceedings of the meeting were conducted by District Welfare Officer Girdhari Lal Sharma.

Deputy Commissioner Torul S Raveesh, SP Karthikeyan Gokulachandran and heads of all departments were among those present at the meeting.