CM’s Holi gift: Rs 1,500cr subsidy for LPG refill to beneficaries

Lucknow: Ahead of the festival of Holi, chief minister Yogi Adityanath released a sum of Rs 1,500 crore on Saturday as a subsidy towards a LPG cylinder refill for 1.86 crore Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries in the state. The free refill is one of two promised annually by state govt — one before Holi and the other before Diwali.The CM handed over symbolic cheques to 10 lakh on the occasion in Lucknow, saying that his govt was working for the welfare of the poor, farmers, women and youth on a priority basis."PM Narendra Modi says that there are only four castes in the country — poor, farmers, women and youth. All faiths, sects, beliefs and religions are encompassed in these. In such a situation, whenever the benefit of any scheme is given, its mantra will only be ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'. A considerable time passed since the Covid pandemic ended, but even today 80 crore people of the country are getting free ration. Among these, there are 15 crore beneficiaries just from UP," he said.Hitting out at the Opposition, the CM said that previous govts had a narrow outlook and divided society into castes with the sole motive of making people fight each other. Before 2017, he said, the mafia ran a parallel govt in the state and there was an atmosphere of anarchy. There would always be some disturbance before festivals, which would ruin the enthusiasm. However, he added, now there were no curfews or riots, law and order was strengthened, and UP became a preferred investment destination.Mentioning the visit by deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya to Germany recently, where he met various industry groups to seek investment in UP, Yogi said that before 2017, when representatives of UP went abroad, the state was not taken seriously, but now every major investor in the country and the world wants to come to UP."They are confident that the state govt can provide security and can also resolve problems by taking swift decisions. The positive change that came in the state and the investment coming from Germany, Japan, Singapore and other countries of the world is not going to benefit any particular individual or any family personally, but its direct benefit will go to UP and its youth," he said.The CM said govt is working towards getting qualified and trained youth from the state employment opportunities abroad as well, in addition to employment generation within the state. Govt was also prioritising women's safety and self-reliance and recently, deputy CM Brajesh Pathak launched a vaccination programme for the prevention of cervical cancer for girls up to 14 years of age.Mentioning schemes like the Lakhpati Didi programme, She-Mart, and Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyami Utpad Vipanan Yojana, the CM said that concrete steps were being taken to provide a strong economic base to women self-help groups. A decision was also taken to progressively increase the honorarium of Anganwadi workers and ASHA workers.