Aiming to provide relief to the poor suffering due to the economic slowdown caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will provide a maintenance allowance to two crore unorganised sector workers on Monday.
Working with the mantra of saving both lives and livelihood, the Uttar Pradesh government will provide Rs 1,000 to each such worker to tide over the economic crisis during the pandemic.
The total number of registered workers in the state are 5,09,08,745. Out of these, the number of unorganised sector workers registered on the e-Shram portal are 3,81,60,725 and the total number of workers registered under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board are 1,27,48,020.
In the first phase, maintenance allowance will be sent to the bank accounts of two crore workers. The Yogi government has also distributed maintenance allowance to small shopkeepers, daily wage labourers, rickshaw/e-rickshaw pullers, porters, barbers, washermen, cobblers and confectioners etc.
It is noteworthy that Uttar Pradesh was the first the state among all to provide such relief to the poor, which was also later adopted by other states.
Since the second wave of COVID-19 was considerably more contagious than the first, it caused more devastation. The section of society, such as small shopkeepers, daily wage labourers, rickshaw/e-rickshaw pullers, porters, barbers, washermen, cobblers, confectioners, handcraft drivers, construction workers, fruit and vegetable vendors, whose livelihood depended on the daily income, were the most affected by the pandemic.
Apart from ensuring facilities such as free vaccines, free testing and free treatment for COVID-19, the government also ensured the provision of other basic amenities to the poor.
An official spokesman of the government said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, even during the first wave of the pandemic, came forward and helped the most deprived section of society in every possible way. He said the process continued in the second phase as well.
The workers in the organised sector were provided maintenance allowance twice and workers in the unorganised sector once. Along with this, ration was made available twice a month, once through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and through the public distribution system, eliminating the ration card obligation.
In the last four and half years, the Yogi government has reached out to the poorest of the poor, to the last man at the bottom of the pyramid, with facilities unheard of. The free ration distribution which aimed at providing food security to the poor and deprived in the state through the public distribution system is a major step in this regard.