Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Project has devised a special scheme at a cost of ₹918 crore to be implemented in 3,994 village pachayats in 30 districts, said Forests Minister Dindigul C.Srinivasan.
Speaking at a function to disburse loans under the project here on Saturday, he said the project, a first of its kind in the country, was being implemented through Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department with World Bank assistance.
The project would benefit people in Dindigul district in seven blocks namely Vedasanthur, Gujiliambarai, Batlagundu, Athoor, Ottanchatram, Palani and Kodaikanal covering 148 village panchayats.
Rural Entrepreneurs
In her address, District Collector M. Vijayalakshmi said the State government had introduced a novel scheme of COVID–19 assistance package to promote rural entrepreneurs who had been affected by the lockdown.
The Self-Help Group members/ family members, producer groups, enterprise groups, farmers producer organisation, differently abled and vulnerable and skilled migrant youth would be benefited by the scheme. The assistance is provided in four components including one time grant to producer groups, enterprise groups up to ₹1.50 lakh per group through Panchayat Level Federations (PLF). In Dindigul district, COVID–19 assistance package of ₹11.35 crore would be distributed to 6,375 eligible beneficiaries as per the government guidelines, she said.
The TNRTP has released the first instalment fund of ₹2.96 crore for different components and the rates of interest varied between 6% and 12 %, said District Executive Officer Jayaprakash in his welcome address. Assistant Collector (training) Ayushi Singh, Mahalir Thittam Project officer Santosh Kumar, Joint Registrar Cooperatives Murugesan spoke.
