Telangana govt to help women SHGs set up rice mills, logistic parks, super bazaars

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday said his government would empower women SHGs to set up rice mills, logistic parks and corporate-style super bazaars.

Speaking after virtually laying the foundation stone for 8,000 'Indira Gandhi Stree Sakthi' buildings for Self Help Groups (SHGs), he said the government would provide lands and facilitate bank loans to build and operate their own rice mills and logistic parks (godowns).

He also announced that bank linkage (provision of credit) to the groups would be doubled from Rs five lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

Though the state government has set up 8,500 paddy procurement centres in the state during the current Rabi season, the process is facing problems related to transportation of produce, rice mills and intermediaries.

"My suggestion to every woman in this meeting. I will take responsibility for getting you loans from banks. You establish rice mills. Companies like Amazon are constructing logistic centres, that means big godowns. If Amazon can construct, why women cannot construct? It is my responsibility to give you lands in mandals. You construct logistic parks(big godowns) and set up rice mills," he said.

The SHG members can set up logistics parks so that farmers can reach them directly to sell their produce.

According to him, while thousands of metric tonnes of paddy are handed over to millers as part of the crop procurement process, the millers are not making payments to the government. Some millers and intermediaries are "cheating" the government to the tune of thousands of crores.

"If the task is given to women, they will show accountability for every grain. So, in the future, paddy will not be stored in any rice mill. We will construct godowns and stock with (under the responsibility of ) women."

He directed district collectors to acquire lands and send proposals for the construction of godowns and mills.

Noting that corporates are running large super bazaars, he suggested that SHGs design a corporate structure, with each member contributing a share of about Rs 10,000 to establish 'Mahila Sakthi Super Bazars'.

The government would provide land in urban areas at nominal rent across all 119 assembly constituencies in the state for establishing super bazars, in addition to a corpus fund, he said.

Even if others don't purchase, the families of 67 lakh SHG members can buy various items from the super bazaars, thereby making them profitable, he said.

The Chief Minister also declared that 553 buses owned by the SHGs would be flagged off at the Parade Grounds here on June 5.  The buses would be leased to the state-run Road Transport Corporation (RTC).

The Congress government is providing one crore sarees to women and working with the vision of making one crore women 'crorepatis', Reddy said.

Highlighting that the state government has enabled SHGs to set up petrol bunks, solar power generation, and other innovative enterprises, he said the government has provided bank linkages worth Rs 60,472 crore to SHG women.