Mangaluru : The ‘Janamana’ interactive session with the district in-charge minister at Milagres Hall on Tuesday witnessed a flow of bouquets and brickbats from the beneficiaries of government schemes.

The programme, organised by the district administration, the Zilla Panchayat and the Department of Information and Publicity, included beneficiaries of government schemes like ‘Anna Bhagya,’ ‘Vidya Siri,’ ‘Ksheera Bhagya,’ ‘Ksheera Dhare,’ ‘Matsyashraya,’ ‘Bidai-Shadi Bhagya,’ ‘Manaswini,’ ‘Maitri,’ ‘Rajiv Arogya Bhagya,’ ‘Rina Mukta,’ ‘Yashaswini’ and housing schemes.

The beneficiaries placed their opinions in front of the district in-charge minister and the other ministers concerned.

The beneficiaries of the Anna Bhagya scheme requested Ramanath Rai to take measures to prevent the misuse of the rice provided under the scheme. The minister assured that a vigilance committee would be formed to check the same. There was also a suggestion to provide boiled rice and white rice alternatively, on a monthly basis.

The beneficiaries of the Vidya Siri – a scheme to provide financial assistance hostel facilities for students from backward classes and rural areas as well as children of farmers – said that there was a need for more time to file applications and more information regarding the scheme should be provided by the government to all institutions.

The Minister for Sports and Youth Empowerment and Fisheries Abhayachandra Jain, who spoke to the beneficiaries, said that the Matsyashraya scheme provided financial assistance to fishermen to construct houses. “In Dakshina Kannada, 150 houses have been sanctioned under the scheme,” he added.

Children, who are being benefited by the Ksheera Bhagya scheme, requested the government to provide milk on six school days, and also to extend the scheme to unaided schools. Rai said that the plan was to provide milk five days a week.

The request of a child to provide almond-flavoured milk as part of the scheme saw the people burst into peels of laughter.

Health Minister U T Khader – who spoke to beneficiaries of the Rajiv Arogya Bhagya scheme – assured that the chief minister had given a green signal to provide lifetime facility of free medicines to the patients who had undergone kidney transplant. “The proposal has been submitted to the Finance Department. The scheme will be the first of its kind in the nation. So far, the free medicines were being provided for a span of one month, after the kidney transplant,” said the minister.

A beneficiary requested the minister to start a ‘Kidney Bhagya’ scheme’, to support kidney transplant.

Dairy farmers told the gathering that under the Ksheera Dhare scheme, the subsidy should be directly sent to the account of the milk producers instead of the cooperative societies. They also urged the ministers to provide for a hike in the subsidy from Rs four to Rs five a litre.

‘Shaadi Bhagya’ scheme beneficiaries placed a demand for a sanction of financial assistance in time. Those who were covered under the Manaswini scheme asked for a hike in monthly pension from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. In Dakshina Kannada district, there were only four beneficiaries this year under the Maitri scheme, meant for sexual minorities.

Rai said that loans up to Rs 30.46 crore had been waived in the district, under Rinamukta scheme.

Yashoda from Laila, Belthangadi taluk, said that the government should provide sand and stones at subsidised rates for the beneficiaries of housing schemes.

Farmers requested the minister that the government should not give Anna Bhagya rice for free but fix a nominal rate. Also, the rate of transplantation seeds should be decreased, they said.

Rai, who is also Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology, inaugurated the programme and released a brochure on the progress of schemes in the district. After interacting with the beneficiaries, Rai said that 80 percent of programmes announced in the election manifesto, had been implemented.