…to get mall at Margao

MARGAO, JAN 4
There’s good news in store for women Self Help Groups in the State.
The government has approved a shopping-cum-exhibition mall for the Self Help Groups in the Commercial Capital at an estimated cost of Rs 3-4 crore.
If Chief Minister Digambar Kamat is to be believed, land admeasuring 1000 sq meters near the proposed Non-Conventional Energy Park located meters away from the South Goa District court, has been allocated to the Goa Handicraft Corporation to build the mall.
“As per the designs, the ground floor of the proposed mall will be fully utilised for exhibition of items produced by the Self Help groups. “The ground floor would be utilised for the display of handicraft items produced by the SHGs. The SHGs would be allotted small stalls on the remaining floors in the shopping mall”, Kamat told Herald.
He said the exhibition-cum-shopping mall would help attract tourists visiting South Goa, thus giving a big boost to the Self Help Group movement. “I am happy that the MPs have also offered their support to the SHGs by chipping funds under the MPLAD scheme”, the Chief Minister added.
Saying that the government is committed to promoting Self Help Groups in a big way, Kamat said the government has been providing funds to the tune of Rs 25,000 to the SHGs as part of concerted attempts to empower women to become independent and appealed to the women in the State to avail benefits of the various government schemes for their welfare and upliftment.