The Himachal Pradesh government is working on comprehensive plan to increase income of poor people by involving them in various schemes with the objective of making the state first in country without any BPL families, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister Virender Kanwar said on Thursday.

Addressing media persons here, Kanwar said Himachal has around 2.82 lakh BPL families and the number is increasing every year which is a cause of concern.

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“The government plans to bring these BPL families and other poor persons above poverty line under Mission Antyodaya and so far, the government has contacted 95,000 families under the program.

Besides, 5,000 poor families who are not in BPL list are also being considered under the poverty alleviation scheme,” he said.

Kanwar said the state government had given these families a performa to know about their requirements for increasing their income and bring about a change in their livelihoods.

“Now as per the needs of families and their land holdings, we will engage them in various activities as fruit cultivation, goat rearing, piggery, bee keeping and other such activities to provide them better earning opportunities,” he added.

In addition, the state government would also engage youth and artisans to enhance their skills and give them training to make them self reliant to bring them out of the ambit of BPL category.

Under the skill development scheme, the state government was providing Rs 5000 per month to trainees and Rs 1500 to master trainers who were engaged in training programmes.

“It has been seen that youth after completing their students and professional courses mainly focus on getting government jobs. The state government wants to change the trend by equipping the youth livelihood earning skills,” he added.

Rural Development minister said the department was also focusing on rehabilitation of stray animals in the state as the number of such animals was around 30,000.

“We have so far rehabilitated 11,000 stray animals in shelters across the state and further, cow sanctuaries are being constructed across the state to house them,” he added.

Besides, the state government was working on improving upon the quality of indigenous cows and semen doses were being imported to ensure delivery of female calves as locals generally abandon male calves on roads. A project worth Rs 15 crore has been started in the state on pilot project basis for the purposes, Kanwar added.

Kanwar said the panchayati raj institutions had been asked to utilize grants sanctioned to them and notice would be issued to representative who fails to do so.

In addition, the state government had empowered Block Development Officer if the panchayat representative fails to submit plan or execute development works to utilize Central grants.

“The state government’s main focus is to develop basic infrastructure in all the villages across the state,” he said, adding the government would ensure 100 percent utilisation of central grants.