A meeting of the task force was held today to give suggestions to the State Planning Commission regarding tribal development, forest and wildlife management and development of minor forest produce areas. In this meeting held at Yojna Bhawan, Nava Raipur, the members of the task force laid special emphasis on the needs of irrigation facilities, housing, ration, health, education, skill development, vocational training, employment-self-employment in the scheduled areas. The members talked about making arrangements for collection, processing and marketing of minor forest produce at the local level. The meeting also discussed the formation of working committees of the task force.
Chairman of Task Force and Advisor to Chief Minister Rajesh Tiwari said that many welfare schemes are being run by the State Government in the State. A task force has been constituted to make these schemes more effective at the ground level with full quality and to review the schemes and give practical suggestions to the State Planning Commission. He told the members that the geographical conditions of the districts of the state are different. The suggestions which come after studying the lifestyle, customs, culture, traditions of the tribals will be presented to the State Planning Commission.
In the meeting, Advisor to Chief Minister Vinod Verma said that development action plan should be prepared on the basis of human development report of Bastar-Surguja region. He said that by conducting a survey in remote forest areas, it is necessary to find out how many such villages, where PDS shops, primary health centers and schools are away from 5 kms, there is a need for special action plan to provide benefits of government schemes easily.
In the meeting, members of the Task Force Shri Ganga Ram Paikra, Professor Virginia Khakha, Dr. Nistar Kujur and Shri Itwari Baiga gave important suggestions. The meeting was virtually attended by Shri Ruchir Garg, Advisor to the Chief Minister and members of the Task Force Shri Shyam Pottavartini and Shri Sushil Chaudhary. Task Force Convenor Shri Sanjay Gaur gave detailed information about the programs and schemes of the Tribal and Scheduled Castes Development Department through a presentation. In the meeting, the officers of the forest department also informed about the departmental plans including wildlife management, collection of minor forest produce, sanctuaries. State Planning Commission member Dr. K. Subramaniam and Member Secretary Mr. Anoop Srivastava along with departmental officers and officers of State Planning Commission were present in the meeting.