Raipur July 25 (IANS) President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday took a ride in a tribal woman-driven e-rickshaw in Chhattisgarh s Maoist-affected Dantewada and had lunch with children from a nearby village.
The e-rickshaw driver Phoolmati Bhaskar is a member of a women s cooperative in Teknagar village.
Kovind appreciated state government s initiatives to make tribal women independent by supporting women cooperatives including the e-rickshaw project.
He appreciated the project not only from the point of view of woman independence but also from the environmental point of view.
After this he went to Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Hiranagar village to have lunch with the children there and prayed with them before taking the meal.
The President also inaugurated a computer lab there and distributed sweets which he had brought from the Rashtrapati Bhavan among the children.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh accompanied the President to both places.

--IANS hindi-mag/sed/nir