HYDERABAD: Secunderabad  Cantonment, along with 61 other cantonments in the country, would no longer be deprived of the Central government’s welfare schemes. During a webinar on Wednesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said military cantonment areas in the country should not be deprived of any of the government’s schemes. Citing the Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Smart Cities Mission and Mid-day Meal scheme for schoolchildren, among others, Singh said there should be no discrepancy in their implementation. “This is a welcome move.

Up till now, the residents of Secunderabad Cantonment were lacking the bene f i t s o f many development schemes, unlike other citizens of the State. Now, a lot of development can take place in the area. In the next few months, another review meeting will be held to monitor the schemes’ implementation,” J Rama Krishna, vice-president of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB), said.

The Defence Minister also launched the ‘Chhavni COVID: Yodha Sanrakshan Yojana’ — a group life insurance scheme through the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which will provide a `5-lakh cover to each of the 10,000 employees in all the 62 Cantonment Boards in the event of a calamity. The Joint Secretaries and nodal officers of the Housing and Urban Affairs, Education, Health and Family Welfare, Social Justice and Empowerment, and Women and Child Development Ministries attended the meeting.