Tribal villages to benefit from Ambedkar scheme

The districts where the villages have been chosen under the new scheme are Bahraich,Balrampur,Lakhimpur Kheri,Sravasti,Pilibhit,Maharajganj and Siddharth Nagar. While Lakhimpur Kheri has the maximum number of chosen villages,Siddharth Nagar has only one village.

Through a letter dated March 16,the Principal Secretary of the department,Balvinder Kumar,also issued orders to all the concerned departments informing them that these villages have been included in the list of the scheme for the financial year 2011-12 and all developmental work should start off there at the earliest.

The resident claims of the forest tribals and traditional forest-dwellers of these villages are still pending with the state government under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act,2006.

After being enlisted for the scheme,these villages will see infrastructure development like construction of CC roads and drains,drinking water supply and power through alternative sources of energy. People will also be issued old age pension under the Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme.

Giving details,Balvinder Kumar said,“These villages definitely have more than 50 per cent tribal population. We have already recognised them as tribals and traditional forest-dwellers. Till the time all the claims are cleared,we want some basic facilities to be given to the residents of these villages. Hence,we have included all these identified villages into the scheme.”