Chandigarh, April 7- A Special felicitation-cum-gift distribution programme was organized today for philanthropists for making contributions for the welfare of the society through CM Uphaar portal.

During the programme which was held at the Chief Minister's residence Sant Kabir Kutir, Sh. Manohar Lal personally presented the gifts to them and also thanked them for showing such an incredible interest in serving humanity with their noble contributions.

“Every single gift I have received is an epitome of love and respect showered upon me by citizens and holds a special significance for me. Now I am assigning you the responsibility to uphold the grace and grandeur of the love shown to me,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.

Notably, in the first phase, contributions worth Rs. 1.15 crore have been made and the said amount will be used for the upliftment and welfare of the needy and poor.

Inspired by Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi who took the first-of-its-kind initiative of utilizing the funds raised from the gifts received by him for the Namami Gange Mission, Chief Minister too had dedicated to raise funds from the gifts received by him in the welfare of poor and unprivileged.

Sh. Manohar Lal said that arrangements have also been made to provide assistance to the needy from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. For this, a portal has been created and a Committee constituted at the district level under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner, which includes the CMO and one senior officer. This Committee scrutinizes the applications received for assistance and after thorough verification disburses a fixed amount to the actual beneficiaries.

“Inspired by Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi's vision of Antyodaya, the present State Government is also dedicatedly to empower the last person at the last mile. Through the State Government’s ambitious Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) scheme, quality education, health, and security is being ensured to every such family,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.

He said that the field of education is also such an area, where apart from the government; cooperation of the society is needed. For this purpose, we have requested the educational institutions to organize regular alumni meetings so that the alumnus, can also give their pivotal contribution to their educational institution. Today we need to go on self-finance education mode, said the Chief Minister.

On this occasion, Sh. Manohar Lal presented the sculpture of former Prime Minister Late Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Sh. Rahul Rao. He also presented the sculpture of Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi and Arjun Rath to Sh. Mayank Garg who had specially come to receive these gifts on behalf of Sh. Praveen Garg. The Chief Minister also presented the sculpture of Kamakhya Devalaya to Sh. Anil Mittal, a sculpture of Ram Janmabhoomi temple to Sh. Abhijit Singh and 3D model sculpture of Sh. Manohar Lal to Sh. Ashwariya Mahajan.

Speaking on occasion, former Minister, Sh. Vipul Goyal said that Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal has taken several steps for the upliftment of the poor and needy. Manohar Sarkar has brought radical changes in the system to eliminate corruption and nepotism in Haryana.

Under the leadership of Sh. Manohar Lal, the present State Government is running several welfare schemes for the welfare of the society and raising contributions from these gifts is also a part of these initiatives, said Sh. Vipul Goyal.

Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and Director General, Information, Public Relations, Language and Culture Department, Dr. Amit Agrawal said that under the guidance of the Chief Minister, no stone has been left unturned for the upliftment of those at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid and bringing them in the mainstream.

He said that the Chief Minister firmly believes that along with the government, the eminent section of the society will also have to cooperate with the government for the welfare of the people, only then the society will be progressive and prosperous.

OSD to Chief Minister, Sh. Bhupeshwar Dayal, Additional Director, Information, Public Relations, Language and Culture Department, Sh. Kuldeep Saini, Joint Director (Admn.), Sh. Gaurav Gupta and other officers also remained present.