Measures being implemented for protection of the girl child in Mahabubnagar district for the last two years have improved the gender ratio from 920 women per every 1,000 men in 2018-19 to 969:1000 in 2019-20.
This was announced by District Collector S. Venkata Rao at a meeting held in Mahabubnagar on the implementation of ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ programme. He complimented the officials of Women and Child Welfare, Police, Medical & Health and Revenue Departments for the remarkable achievement.
Asking the officials to work for even better gender ratio in the district, Mr. Venkata Rao said it would be possible with better protection of girl children and education facilities to them.
He enquired about field-level steps being taken by officials of the line departments.
The officials of Women and Child Welfare Department explained that the implementation of KCR kits has helped improved the gender ratio and the Kalyana Laxmi and Shaadi Mubarak programmes have brought down the incidence of child marriages.
Rythu vedikas
At another meeting, the District Collector said the construction of Rythu Vedika buildings would begin from July 1 and procurement of material and tying up of labourers was in the process. Stating that the engineers of Panchayat Raj and Rural Water Supply Department would supervise the construction of Rythu Vedikas without any role for contractors, he said the government had released ₹ 13.5 crore for building 88 vedikas in the district.
Each Rythu Vedika to be constructed with a cost of ₹22 lakh would have a labour component of ₹10 lakh under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and another ₹12 lakh would be spent on the material. The funds meant for construction would be deposited in the joint account to be held by Rythu Bandhu Samithi coordinator and Agriculture Extension Officer of the cluster concerned.
He suggested that the engineers procure all the material required for 88 vedikas together for better price and there was no shortage of sand for the purpose. He asked the officials concerned to take the work of Rythu Vedikas seriously as their confidential record for the year would be based on their performance in the implementation of Rythu Vedikas and Haritha Haram programmes.