All those families of Valmiki community, who wish to construct a house whether in rural area or in urban area of the state will be provided land for construction of houses said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh while presiding over the first meeting of the Valmiki Welfare Board here today. He stressed for planned construction of Valmiki colonies and said that the haphazard construction of colonies would not be allowed. He said that the government would look into sympathetically for settling the Valmiki community where they were already putting up. He directed the officers to solve the housing problem of the community within three months positively.It was also decided to look into the procedure of granting bonafide certificates to the Valmiki community who were staying in the State since generations. The Chief Minister also directed to change the name of Maharishi Valmiki Swachata Puraskar for panchayats and to rename the award with some other name.
A decision was taken by amending the notification to give SC/ST/ OBC certificate to those Valmiki families who do not possess any land in the State. The Chief Minister assured for providing adequate funds for renovation of the Maharishi Valmiki temple at Nahan. He also directed DC Kangra to explore possibility of land for the burial ground at Indora for the Valmiki community, besides taking up the different issues of residents of the community with the army authorities at Yol in Dharamsala.It was also disclosed in the meeting that the wards of Valmiki community were being distributed scholarship under the Valmiki Scholarship Scheme without any discrimination.It was assured to find a proper government land for construction of Primary school for the children residing in ward -11, Mohalla Ravidass in Nahan.The Chief Minister assured to look into all the grievances of the community.Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr. (Col.) Dhani Ram Shandil welcomed the Chief Minister on the occasion.Chief Secretary, Shri P. Mitra was also present in the meeting amongst senior officers of the state government.