Collector A. Md. Imtiaz felicitated couples who had female babies recently on the occasion of the 151st Gandhi Jayanti celebrations.
Following the directions of the Central government to felicitate mothers of girl children under the scheme Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, officials of the Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) department organised the event at the Collector’s camp office on Friday.
Mr. Imtiaz, along with Joint Collector (JC) K. Madhavi Latha, JC (Development) L. Shiva Shankar, JC (Welfare) K. Mohan Kumar, District Revenue Officer (DRO) M. Venkateswarlu, WD&CW Project Director K. Uma Rani and other officers felicitated the couples with a shawl and presented kits.
The Collector asked the couples to educate their daughters well and give them a bright future.
He enquired with the parents about their educational qualification and employment and asked them to ensure that their daughters were treated with love and respect.
“The State and Central governments are offering many schemes including Amma Vodi, Nadu Nedu, Beti Bachao Beti Padao, Midday Meals, and Jagananna Vidya Deevena to improve female literacy,” Mr. Imtiaz explained and asked the couples to make use of the schemes to ensure a bright future for their girl children.
Ms. Madhavi said that having a daughter is a matter of fortune and asked the mothers to give them a nutritious diet. The Joint Collector explained to them about the YSR Sampoorna Poshana Scheme, aimed at providing nutritious food to children through Anganwadi Centres.
WD&CW Assistant Project Director M. Prameela Rani and District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) Ch. Vijay Kumar said garments, hand napkins, cosmetics and biscuits were distributed to the children. Earlier, they garlanded the portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on the occasion.
“Parents are requested to utilise the services of Grama and Ward Volunteers and get information on the government schemes,” the Collector said and appealed to parents to help the government in arresting the school dropout rate.
Child Development Project Officers Jaya Lakshmi and Suvarna, Working Women’s Hostel Superintendent M. Purnima and other staff participated.