A women leadership programme being organised by BREDS at Anjaneyulunagar in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: Special Arangement more-in Working among construction workers, women street vendors and nine identified slums, an NGO created awareness of their rights and entitlements and got them tangible benefits. Bapuji Rural Enlightenment and Development Society(BREDS) working in a three-year project from 2015, covered 3,000 construction workers, 1,300 female and 1,700 male, 400 women street vendors and nine slums, all accounting for 4,900 families. According to Project Director Pragya Pathak, a total of 15,000 grievances relating to sanitation, water, anganwadi centres, poverty alleviation schemes, NSFDC, Chandranna Bima insurance scheme, among others, were tackled. It helped them get identity cards under Andhra Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board and 1,250 workers got benefits under various schemes to them. A mutually aided women's co-operative thrift and credit society was formed for the street vendors at Anjaneyanagar at Pednurti with a rotation fund of ?3 lakh. It has been functioning effectively for one year now. Five societies The workers have been organised into five societies comprising 1,250 members. The street vendors have been registered under the Street Vendors Act 2014. Skill development through National Academy of Construction and Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) was taken up to increase their incomes. With the help of USAID, it also got constructed 26 toilets in the areas it worked. In the urban areas it pursued cases of workers in various sectors who died right from 2010 and got their families relief under National Family Benefit Scheme. A total of 800 applications were taken up and so far 400 got relief worth ?1 crore. Another 120 applications are still pending. According to sectoral coordinator Shanmukha Rao, 43 families at Mutyalamma Colony and 56 at K.S.N. Reddy Colony were enabled to get pattas (title deeds) under GOs issued by the government and take up housing later. Liaison officer K. Satyanarayana and sectoral coordinator K. Srilata were present.

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