Hyderabad: Chief minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday announced a slew of women empowerment schemes, assuring that the govt would provide land to women members of self-help groups (SHGs) to establish supermarkets, logistics parks, godowns, petrol bunks and rice mills. The govt will also facilitate bank linkage loans at zero per cent interest for these ventures.The CM interacted with SHG women through a video conference from the Secretariat after virtually laying the foundation stone for 8,000 SHG Mahila Grama Sangam buildings. He also unveiled the new designs of Indiramma saris, which will be distributed to one crore women in rural and urban areas across the state.Reiterating the Congress govt’s commitment to making women crorepatis by 2034, Revanth Reddy urged SHG women to engage with farmers at Rythu Vedikas and encourage them to diversify into commercial crops instead of relying solely on paddy cultivation.“Tell farmers that paddy cultivation alone is not very profitable and that they can earn significantly more through commercial crops. The govt will provide remuneration and transport facilities to women for this work,” he said.He announced that 553 buses owned by SHG women would be flagged off at Parade Ground in Secunderabad on June 5. The govt aims to ensure that women become owners of at least 1,000 buses and lease them to Telangana State Road Transport Corporation.“The govt has reimbursed nearly Rs 10,000 crore to RTC so far towards free travel for women. Despite attempts by the opposition to stall the scheme, the Congress govt has continued its implementation successfully,” Revanth Reddy said.He further announced that the limit for bank linkage loans to SHG women would be increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. The govt has already facilitated bank linkage loans worth Rs 60,472 crore for women’s groups and paid Rs 1,390 crore to banks on behalf of beneficiaries to ensure zero-interest lending.Stating that the govt was prepared to allocate between 50 and 100 acres of land in every assembly constituency, Revanth Reddy asked SHG women to establish logistics parks, godowns and rice mills.“The role of women’s groups should expand into procurement, storage and milling of food grains. Measures will be introduced to enable women’s groups to directly procure paddy and supply processed rice to the govt,” he said.The CM also announced the establishment of ‘Mahila Shakti Super Bazaars’ by SHG women on the lines of major corporate retail chains.“These Mahila Shakti Super Bazaars should compete effectively with market leaders such as DMart, Reliance Retail and Big Bazaar. The govt is ready to lease land at concessional rates in urban areas. It will also act as a stakeholder in these supermarkets to ensure that quality agricultural produce, organic products and daily essentials cultivated by farmers reach consumers directly,” he said.The govt will also allot land to SHG women for establishing petrol bunks in district headquarters and other strategic locations.The 8,000 SHG Mahila Grama Sangam buildings, scheduled for completion by Dec 9, are expected to provide dedicated spaces for meetings, training programmes, economic activities and business initiatives for women’s groups, he added.
