Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday distributed free LPG connections to poor women under the PM Ujjwala Yojana at Kakori in Lucknow.
Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore and Jai Devi Kaushal, MLA from Malihabad, were also present on the occasion, organised under the ‘Sewa Hi Samarpan Hai’ campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Speaking on the occasion, Puri said that in the last seven years the number of LPG connections in the country had doubled from 14 crore in 2014 to almost 30 crore. He said the Narendra Modi government launched PM Ujjawal Yojana (PMUY) in 2016 and achieved its target of eight crore, about eight months before the scheduled date.
The second phase of the scheme is underway to give one crore more such connections to needy families. The minister said that the scheme was hugely successful in providing relief to the women from smoke and drudgery, enabling them to live a respectful life.
Referring to other welfare measures of the Modi government, Puri said that the Central schemes started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi were yielding results and people were immensely benefiting from them.
He said that Mahatma Gandhi laid emphasis on cleanliness and Prime Minister Modi fulfilled the vision by launching Swachh Bharat Mission, which led to all the cities becoming open defecation-free.
He said that from 2004 to 2014, Rs 1.57 lakh crore were spent on urban schemes but in the last seven years, about Rs 12 lakh crore had been spent. He said about three crore people living in urban and rural India would get a house under these schemes.
He said under the PMUY, in Uttar Pradesh, the demand of only 17,000 houses was indicated till 2017 but in the last four-and-a-half years, about nine lakh beneficiaries had already been given cooking gas connections.
Talking about the petroleum sector, Puri said that the number of CNG stations in Lucknow itself had increased by 400 per cent while the number of retail outlets and LPG penetration in the city had gone up by 33 per cent in seven years.
The minister also spoke about expansion in the Metro rail network in the country, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. He said that about 90 crore people had been given free Covid vaccination.
Kaushal Kishore spoke about various welfare schemes that benefitted the poor. He said that 80 crore people had been given free ration during the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers were getting Rs 6,000 per year, and all the poor would get house by next year.