Dehradun, August 1 (IANS): An NGO Thursday adopted an Uttarakhand village and decided to disburse Rs.2,000 per month to 154 people, including women and the elderly, after 54 men from the village went missing in flash floods in June and were presumed dead.

NGO Sulabh International, which works in the area of sanitation, said that besides the aid for women in Deoli-Bramhagram village, it will give Rs.1,000 to orphaned children.

Unemployed young men in the village will get Rs.2,000 allowance every month to help them start earning their livelihood, said a spokesman for the NGO.

State's Tourism Minister Amrita Rawat handed over this month's dole at a function to some of the women whose husbands are still missing, the spokesman said.

Sulabh founder Bindeshwar Pathak said: "We do not want the village to get a tag of a village of widows. We want it to become a model village."

"We will impart vocational training to widows and ensure proper education for the kids," Pathak said at the function at Indira Nagar Park opposite Sulabh International office.

From next month, all of the beneficiaries will receive the aid through bank, he said.