Tura, Feb 25: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday met producers’ groups of South Garo Hills District at Dimapara Playground under Gasuapara Block and distributed Cheques to the beneficiaries under the FOCUS Programme.
During the programme, Conrad informed that the Focus programme is being implemented in a mission mode with a vision to upscale the farmers in their farming activities and also to support them financially. He also urged upon the gathering to avail the available schemes that are being implemented by the MDA Government to improve their livelihood and financial status.
During the program the Chief Minister also distributed Cheques amounting to Rs 82,10,000 to 147,Producers group with 1642 members and also urged the members to work as a team in order to earn the highest income and to create the marketing strategy of their produced goods.
A felicitation of Rupali K Marak, banking correspondent of Bakdil Organization also took place3 as part of the programme. Marak was presented a cash award for her contribution towards facilitating formation and Nurturing 250 SHG’S. She also got them bank linked and help them avail loans amounting to Rs 32, 70, 000.00 and KCC loans amounting to Rsv70,80,000 and individual Piggery Loan amounting to Rs 88,50,000 for 177 individuals.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister was also in South West Garo Hills earlier on Thursday where he distributed cheques amounting to over 1 crore to the Self Help Groups (SHG)s and village organizations under Rerapara C&RD Block at the SHG Mega camp organized at Damalgre playground.
The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone and unveiled the plaque for construction of infrastructure for the Rerapara C&RD Block. The infrastructure is being constructed with a sanctioned amount of Rs.2.22 crore. It may be recalled that the Rerapara C&RD Block was inaugurated five years back on January 20, 2017 by the then CM Dr Mukul Sangma.
Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that the MDA government in 2018 had initiated various schemes to promote livelihood generation opportunities for women, farmers and the youth, among which, was the SHG movement under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).
He stated that till date 40,000 SHGs have been formed in different blocks of the State and that within a span of 2 to 3 years 200 crores have been sanctioned to them under various start up funds, Revolving Fund, Community Management Fund etc
Cheques worth a total of Rs 1.30 crore were distributed during the programme to the SHGs. The cheques were part of the financial assistance through loan grants and community investment fund under NRLM.