Paderu (ASR District): The tribals of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) of Alluri Sitharamaraju district participated in a virtual meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the Pradhan Mantri Janman Yojana. PM Modi interacted with the tribals in a meeting organised at the new Bhalluguda government primary school ground of Araku Valley mandal on Monday. Modi said that welfare schemes will be provided to all eligible PVTGs and Ekalavya Model Residential Schools are being constructed to provide quality education to tribal students. Modi interacted with Swabi Ganga, a woman from Gadyaguda village, Araku Valley mandal in the virtual meeting and Korra Ravi Kumar, a Hindi teacher from the Tribal Welfare Department acted as translator. Ganga lauded the Central government for its efforts to provide social and economic justice to the PVTGs on par with everyone else which has increased their self-confidence. She said that they were able to talk to the Prime Minister directly from their villages due to the provision of roads, drinking water facilities, and construction of cell towers. Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Project Officer V Abhishek said that the Prime Minister has launched the PM Janjati Adivasi Nyay Maha Abhiyan and interacted with PVTG tribes of five states. Zilla Parishad president J Subhadra said that the Central and State governments are working hard for the welfare of tribals. Paderu MLA Kottagulli Bhagya Lakshmi said that 75 most backward Tribal Tribes in 18 states have been identified as PVTGs and are implementing various schemes for social and economic empowerment. District joint collector K Karthik, Central Tribal Affairs Joint Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, ITDA Assistant Project Officers VS Prabhakara Rao and M Venkateswara Rao were present.