Telangana Govt’s Dalit Bandhu helps tractor driver turn owner of mobile rice mill in Sircilla

A native of Fazulnagar of Vemulawada rural mandal, Parsharam purchased the mobile rice mill under the Dalit Bandhu scheme by spending Rs 14 lakh

Rajanna-Sircilla: A tractor driver has become the owner of a mobile ricemill-cum-tractor in the district. Thanks to the State government’s flagship Dalit Bandhu scheme, Thandrala Parsharam is now earning a livelihood on his own without having to depend on others.

A native of Fazulnagar of Vemulawada rural mandal, Parsharam purchased the mobile rice mill under the Dalit Bandhu scheme by spending Rs 14 lakh. The first mobile rice mill unit as part of the Dalit Bandhu scheme was handed over to him by IT Minister KT Rama Rao recently.

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After completing Class 7, Parsharam had dropped out of school and began working as a daily wage labourer to contribute money to run his family since his father died when Parsharam was quite young. In between, he learned tractor driving and began working as a tractor driver from 2012.

Besides working as tractor driver, he used to work on a paddy harvester. With that experience, he applied for a mobile rice mill unit with the support of village sarpanch Nagula Venugopal and former MPTC Gaddam Hanumandlu. Since the Rs 10 lakh sanctioned under Dalit Bandhu was not sufficient for the grounding of the unit, he approached district Collector Anurag Jayanthi for additional help. Responding positively to Parsharam’s request, the Collector took initiative to sanction a Rs 2.50 lakh loan from the union Bank of India. Parsharam purchased the unit by mobilizing the remaining Rs 1.50 lakh.

Parsharam is hoping to start milling paddy from the current Vanakalam season. Speaking to Telangana Today, Parsharam thanked Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, Minister Rama Rao and local MLA Ch Ramesh Babu for helping him. He said he could mill six quintals of rice per hour with the help of the mobile rice mill. As Rs 300 is being charged for milling of a quintal rice by other operators, it was possible to get Rs 1,800. Excluding Rs.500 diesel charges, he would get Rs 1,300 by milling six quintals of rice per hour.

In the off-season, he could do non-agricultural work with the help of the tractor, he said.

Parsharam, who used to earn about Rs 10,000 a month while working as a tractor driver, had faced severe hardships to run the family. His wife Swarupa also worked as a farm labourer besides making beedis to contribute to the family. They now are relieved with the purchase of the mobile rice mill-tractor unit, he said.