Hyderabad, August 23: The Urban Community Development Department of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is in the process of giving final shape to the ambitious ‘Mahila Bhavans’ programme envisaged by Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy.
The Mahila Bhavans will be set up in all the 150 divisions of the GHMC and are designed to better the lives of those women living below the poverty line.
The Mahila bhavans programme is expected to be launched from September. These ‘bhavans’ will be set up in GHMC Community Halls.
(According to informed sources, most of the 800 odd GHMC Community Halls are under control of anti-social elements who use them to run their ‘addas’. Some of these addas are used as gambling dens, liquor outlets etc. If the Mayor’s ambitious programme is successfully implemented, this would go a long way in getting the halls built for the community serve their purpose.)
The Mahila bhavans will impart computers, tailoring, embroidery, etc training to the BPL women in order to enable them to eke out a decent livelihood on their own.
Social workers would be assigned to offer counselling to these trainees. The trainees would be also given guidance on how to obtain loans from banks and financial institutes. They would also be explained the existing government schemes so that this comes in handy for them to become independent.
The GHMC will also organise health awareness camps in these Mahila bhavans for the benefit of the women and children on a regular basis.
The ambitious project also envisages that only women would be given responsibility to run the Mahila bhavans. Men would be not allowed to have any kind of authority.
According to the GHMC Constitution, 40 per cent of its revenue has to be spent on slum development works. The Mahila bhavans would be run from the budget set apart for slum development.
The GHMC will also bear the expenses for the setting up of these bhavans and also maintaining them.
The Mayor is believed to be in favour of making the local Corporator responsible for safety, security and maintenance of the Mahila bhavans.
The Mahila bhavans will work to form the Self-Help Groups and bring around 10-15 such SHGs together to form slum level federations.
——INN