Dola assumes office as social welfare minister

Vijayawada : Dr Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy assumed office as minister of social welfare, village and ward secretariats and welfare of the disabled on Wednesday. After performing the religious rituals with the family members, he assumed office at the Secretariat.

Soon after taking the charge, the minister signed first on a file related sanctioning additional seats for the Intermediate students in the Dr B R Ambedkar gurukul girls’ college at Singarayakonda in Prakasam district.

He sanctioned 80 seats for the CEC group, 40 seats for the MPC group and 40 seats for the BiPC group in the gurukul college. The minister also signed the file related to setting up of cold storage unit to store the vegetables and other food materials at the gurukul girls’ hostel at the Nagulapalem village of Bapatla mandal as a pilot project. The school can store eggs, fruits, vegetables and other food items in the cold storage.

Minister Veeranjaneya Swamy also signed the file on providing solar heaters facility for three schools. The solar heaters can provide hot water for bathing at the hostels. The minister said the two pilot projects were launched on Wednesday and will be implemented later in other schools in the state based on the results of the pilot projects.

Speaking to media on the occasion, the minister said he would perform his duties efficiently and thanked Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for providing an opportunity to serve the people of Andhra Pradesh as the minister of social welfare.

The social welfare minister said he would try to release the pending fee of the students. Social welfare department will work as the nodal agency for the release of fee for the tribal students studying in the state, he added.

He exuded confidence that the social welfare department will develop the tribals in all spheres of life.

Referring to physically-challenged, Veeranjaneya Swamy said he would make efforts to set up special schools and separate hostels for them. Efforts will also be made to grant scholarship and provide livelihood for the disabled children.

Minister for energy Gottipati Ravi Kumar, principal secretary, ward and village secretariats, Ajay Jain, secretary, social welfare, K Harsha Vardhan and other officials congratulated the minister on assuming the office.