Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday announced that food allocation for school and college students in government-run hostels would be increased to ₹1,400 and ₹1,500 per student per month respectively.
Addressing the concluding session of the two-day conference of Collectors in Chennai, he said the present allocation was ₹1,100 for both school and college students. A total of 1,71,844 students will benefit from the initiative, which would cost ₹68.77 crore more to the exchequer. However, the government has viewed this as an investment in education, he said.
Other announcements made at the conference include the implementation of a special scheme within the next two years to repair and improve infrastructure in hostels for students from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, and Most Backward Classes.
A guidance committee headed by the Chief Secretary would be formed for expediting the construction of roads in places where tribal communities lived, Mr. Stalin said.
He further said that efforts would be made in consultation with the Madras High Court to produce trial prisoners through video-conferencing instead of physically bringing them to the courts.
The assistance provided for those who were previously involved in making illicit liquor, but are now being rehabilitated, would be increased from ₹30,000 to ₹ 50,000, he added.
The Chief Minister also asked the Home Secretary to design a new review mechanism and share it with the Collectors and the Director-General of Police for a monthly review of cases filed over violence against women and children in every district. This review, he said, would come into force within a month.
He asked the Collectors to pay special attention to certain issues with respect to operation of free buses for women, functioning of hospitals, condition of roads and sewage networks, among others.
He lauded the Collectors for their role in the effective and quick implementation of the Kalaignar Mahalir Urimai Thittam.
At the conference, IAS officers — A. Arun Thamburaj, T. Prabhushankar, V. Vishnu, S. Visakan, Alby John Varghese, Dinesh Ponraj Oliver, M. Pradeep Kumar, K. Senthil Raj, D. Mohan, and V.P. Jayaseelan — were honoured with awards for their performance in various categories.
