Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Saturday travelled deep inside the Nallamala forest in Nagarkurnool district to interact with members of the Chenchu tribe in their habitation.
Ms. Soundararajan’s motorcade covered 15 km in thick forest on rough terrain to visit the tribal habitation at Appapur in Lingala mandal of the district, a release from Raj Bhavan said.
She went to a couple of huts to see the living conditions of the particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) and their temple in a makeshift hut where she was blessed by the priest. She undertook the journey to see the progress of a project initiated by her at Appapur and the adjoining Bourapur habitations to improve the nutritional status of primitive tribal groups.
The local people gave her a rousing reception in their traditional style after which she interacted with women, children and other elders. She handed over a two-wheeler ambulance each to Appapur and Bourapur. The vehicles will be permanently stationed at the villages to shift patients to hospital in emergency.
In her speech, Ms. Soundararajan said she had taken up a pilot project in six primitive tribal habitations of three districts in the State to improve the nutritional status of the locals. After assessing the results of its implementation, it will be extended to more districts.
The project enabled extension of solar power-based lighting to all the houses in the village, the local ashram school got a facelift, the medical team of the Employees State Insurance Corporation conducted ultra-sound scanning for women, the Indian Red Cross Society distributed health and hygiene kits and the National Institute of Nutrition distributed the traditional mahua laddu to women to improve their immunity.
The Governor handed over a cheque for 49.9 lakh for infrastructure development in the two villages. Financial assistance was extended to two post-graduate students and study material for competitive exams was also distributed to the youth.
Secretary to Governor K. Surendra Mohan, joint secretary C..N. Raghu Prasad, District Collector Uday Kumar, Additional Collector Manu Chowdary and Superintendent of Police Manohar were present. The Governor assured to visit the village again to see the improvements.
