Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said that the present State Government is committed to ensuring the welfare of the poor.
“Serving the very needy in the spirit of Antyodaya is the utmost aim of the State Government. Today’s Annapurna Utsav is an auspicious programme,” the Chief Minister said while speaking at the State Level Annapurna Utsav organized in Panchkula.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh also attended the function as the chief guest through video conferencing.
The Chief Minister said that ensuring no one sleeps on an empty stomach is the priority of the government and for this, 5 kg wheat is being given free of cost to every member of the eligible poor families during the Annapurna Utsav started under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
During this Annapurna Utsav, on August 18 and 19, ration was distributed through more than 10,000 depots across the state. The word ‘Utsav’ was added to this programme to lift up the spirit of the society that is suffering due to the COVID pandemic, he said.
Khattar said that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, a free ration facility was arranged for the poor eligible families till November last year during the first wave of COVID-19. Due to the second wave of this pandemic, the free ration will be given till November this year also.
He said that the government has also made a plan to provide monthly financial benefits and education to children orphaned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under Ayushman Yojana also, 2.87 lakh patients got benefits. An amount of Rs 351 crore was spent by the government on this, he said.
The Chief Minister further said that whether it is Ujjwala Yojana, Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana or Atal Kisan Canteen, all these schemes are being run to ensure the welfare of the poor.
The target of our government is to make the annual income of every family in the state more than Rs 1 lakh. For this, a survey has been conducted through the
Parivar Pehchan Patra scheme, he said.
On the basis of the survey, 30,000 families with income below 50,000 have been identified. Besides this, 18,000 more families with income less than 1 lakh have also been identified. A team of six departments has been constituted to increase the annual income of these 48,000 families to 1 lakh and the team would be headed by the Social Justice Department. Soon after contacting these families, their employment will be started, he added.
Khattar also said that often complaints were received regarding the non-availability of ration. To prevent this, a biometric system was implemented and now ration is distributed only after biometric verification. This step has certainly helped the State Government in a great way to stop theft and corruption, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said that adequate arrangements have been made to provide free ration to 1.25 crore people of 27 lakh families by the State Government during the COVID-19 period.
While taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘One Nation One Card’ scheme, ration was distributed to 17,000 families of other states after biometric verification.
Now the eligible family can get ration after biometric verification from anywhere in Haryana, he added.