Chandigarh, August 19: Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal while speaking at the State Level Annapurna Utsav organized in Panchkula today said that the present State Government is committed to ensuring the welfare of the poor.

Defense Minister, Sh. Rajnath Singh also attended the function as the Chief Guest through video conferencing. Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Sh. Dushyant Chautala and Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Sh. Gian Chand Gupta were also present in the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that serving the very needy in the spirit of Antyodaya is the utmost aim of the State Government. Today’s Annapurna Utsav is a very auspicious programme, he added.

The Chief Minister said that ensuring no one sleeps on an empty stomach is the priority of the State 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 has been 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 from the state of depression created due to the COVID Pandemic, said Sh. Manohar Lal.

He said that even during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 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.

Sh. Manohar Lal 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.

The Chief Minister 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, said the Chief Minister.

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 plan the annual income of these 48,000 families to 1 lakh, the team would be headed by the Social Justice Department. Soon after contacting these families, their employment will be started.

Corruption ended in ration distribution

Sh. Manohar Lal 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.

Free ration distributed to 1.25 crore people in Haryana: Deputy CM

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala said ensuring that no one sleeps empty stomach is the utmost priority of the State Government and  for this  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 Sh. 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.

On this occasion, MP Sh. Rattan Lal Kataria, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. D. S. Dhesi, Additional Chief Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Sh. Anurag Rastogi, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Dr. Amit Agrawal, BJP State President Sh. O. P. Dhankar, BJP State Incharge, Sh. Vinod Tawde, senior leaders and officials also remained present.

Chief Minister went to the village and distributed ration

After the State-Level 'Annapurna Utsav', Chief Minister reached Haripur village near Panchkula Sector 4 and distributed ration in bags to the eligible families there.