Somashekhar assures financial support to Asha workers

Minister S T Somashekhar called on veteran politician M C Nanaiah, at the residence of the latter in Kodagu on Thursday. DH Photos

A scheme will be launched by the government to provide financial stability to Asha workers in the state, Cooperation Minister S T Somashekhar said.

He was speaking after distributing financial assistance of Rs 3,000 each to Asha workers, provided by the Department of Cooperation, in the district during a programme held at Zilla Panchayat Bhavan on Thursday.

“Meetings have been held at the government level for providing loans to the Asha workers on the lines of self help groups and Stree Shakti groups. The decision will be taken soon. Around 42,000 Asha workers are working in the district and 21,000 of them have been given financial assistance,” he said.

Lauding the efforts of the Asha workers in collecting the details from people with international travel history, Somashekhar said that the workers had played a big role in containing novel coronavirus.

Rs 20,000 crore loans

The minister said there was a target to provide Rs 20,000 crore loans to the farmers in the state next year. A whopping Rs 13,500 crore loans were provided to the farmers during last year. Loans to the tune of Rs 14,500 crore will be provided to the farmers this year, he said.

Somashekhar said, “A letter has been written to the Department of Finance to extend the date of repayment of farmer’s loans till December this year. A discussion in this regard was held with the chief minister as well.”

Services lauded

MLA K G Bopaiah, MLA Appachu Ranjan and MLC Sunil Subramani too appreciated the valuable service of the Asha workers.

District Central Cooperative Bank President Kodandera Bond Ganapathy said that the DCC Bank had contributed Rs 10 lakh to the CM’s Relief Fund.

Relief fund

Two ventilators will be purchased with an amount of Rs 8 lakh. Various cooperative societies have raised an amount of Rs 33 lakh and have handed it over to the relief fund, he added.

Kodagu Zilla Panchayat Vice President Lokeshwari Gopal, DCC Bank Vice President Ketolira Harish Poovaiah and Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy were present on the occasion.