"Bangaru Thalli" to get legal status: CM

In an effort to silence the criticism from his own cabinet colleagues and partymen, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday announced that "Bangaru Thalli" scheme would be given a legal status soon.

The Chief Minister’s statement during an interactive session with Women's Self-Help Groups here came as a confession that "Bangaru Thalli" scheme was announced without completing the necessary formalities. Describing the scheme as the most innovative, the Chief Minister assured that legislation would be soon introduced in the Legislative Assembly to give it a legal status. He said legislation would be brought for "Bangaru Thalli" as it was done for the SC, ST Sub-Plan.

Kiran Kumar Reddy assured that once introduced with legal protection, it would be compulsory for the successive governments to continue the same. He said that the birth of a girl child in a family should be welcomed and she should be given proper education and care.

The Chief Minister also assured the women that steps would be take to remove the belt shops in the State. He said that the belt shops were not officially permitted and they would be removed soon. He was reacting to a suggestion made by Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh stressing the need to remove the menace of belt shops.

Kiran Kumar Reddy also assured that every house in the State would have toilet in the next two years and the Centre was giving an assistance of Rs 10,000 for the construction of individual toilets.

The Chief Minister also listed out various schemes being implemented by the government for the welfare of people.

Ministers Vatti Vasanta Kumar and Pithani Satyanarayana, MPs K Bapiraju, Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, MLAs Kothapalli Subbarayidu, Ch Prabhakar, K Nageswara Rao, Eli Nani, Bangaru Usha Rani, district Collector Vani Mohan and others participated in the program.