POOR SINGLE WOMEN TO GET `1K AID

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday said the government would provide `1,000 for single women from the poorer sections every month from April 1. He told the Assembly that the scheme would benefit about 3 lakh single women.

Women who live alone due to family problems or personal reasons will be eligible for the scheme. It also covers women who are divorced or abandoned or neglected by husbands or families.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday announced a welfare scheme to provide `1,000 assistance for single women from the poorer sections from April 1.

Speaking in the Assembly, Mr Rao said money would be provided in the annual Budget, to be presented in March. He directed collectors to enrol single women for the scheme after giving it wide publicity and submit the list of beneficiaries at the earliest.

He urged all MLAs to ensure that the benefit would reach only the deserving and asked them to take up field-level monitoring in their constituencies while selecting beneficiaries.

“Preliminary estimates made by the government indicate that there are nearly 3 lakh single women in the state, who are facing acute poverty and are struggling to eke out a livelihood with no support from their husband or family members. They have remained alone due to family problems or other reasons. As these women are more prone to poverty than men, we took the decision to support them by extending `1,000 every month to distressed single women,” Mr Rao said, amidst applause from the treasury benches.

“We have not promised any scheme for single women in our party manifesto. In order to mitigate their problems, we took this decision on humanitarian grounds,” the Chief Minister said.