Raipur: Baghel administration on Sunday launched a scheme under which ‘gauthans’ (cow shelters in villages) will be developed as ‘rural industrial parks’, an official said. A total budget of ₹600 crore has been pooled in the current financial year’s budget, he added.

To commemorate the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation- Baghel at his residence introduced the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Industrial Parks’ (MGRIP) scheme.

“In the first phase of the programme, 300 such facilities are being developed across the state for which a provision of Rs 600 crore has been made in the budget of the current financial year,” the public relations department official said

Under this scheme, selected gauthans will be developed as rural industrial parks where apart from producing vermicompost, activities like poultry farming, fisheries, food processing will also be carried out. Each development block in the state will have two rural industrial parks in the first phase. The Panchayat and Rural Development department will manage the scheme.