Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Monday said that about 27 lakh families in the state are being given food grains free of cost under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana’.
“The State Government has emerged as a well wisher of the underprivileged during the Coronavirus period. Lakhs of underprivileged families of the state could neither work as a daily-wager nor take up small jobs during this period. In such circumstances, the State Government provided 5-kg wheat per member door-to-door through ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)’,” Dushyant said,
Divulging figures for the month of July, he said that about 60,391 metric tonnes of wheat is being distributed to 27,04,846 ration card holders of the state.
The Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds the portfolio of Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, said that due to the ongoing Corona infection, a country-wide lockdown had been imposed on March 26, 2020. To ensure that the people from the economically weaker sections of the society like road dwellers, rag pickers, hawkers, rickshaw pullers, migrant labourers etc. do not face scarcity of food and in view of the pro-poor approach of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana’ was started from April 2020.
Under this scheme, 5-kg wheat per member was provided free of cost to AAY (Pink Card), BPL (Yellow Card) and OPH (Khaki Card) holders, he added.
Dushyant further said that the scheme was again started from May 2021 so that unprivileged people do not have to sleep empty stomach. In fact, the duration of this scheme has been extended till Diwali. Thus, free ration will be dispensed till November 2021, he said.
He also said that the Haryana Government’s Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, under the National Food Security Act, 2013, have provided flour, bajra, sugar, salt, and mustard oil to AAY (Pink Card), BPL (Yellow Card) and OPH (Khaki Card) holders according to their eligibility.