Lucknow: Intending to make Holi, the festival of colours, particularly special for underprivileged women and their families in the state, the Yogi government is gearing up to gift them free gas cylinders.
This initiative will directly benefit about 1.75 crore people.
Notably, the Yogi government had previously extended a similar gesture by providing free cylinders to women during Diwali.
The Yogi government decided to provide two cylinders for free in a year under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. As part of this initiative, the first cylinder was made available during Diwali, and now the second cylinder will be provided during Holi.
The Yogi government has allocated a budget of Rs 2,312 crore for the financial year 2023-24 to distribute two free cylinder refills to approximately 1.75 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in the state. In the first phase of the scheme, cylinder refills were distributed to a total of 80.30 lakh beneficiaries from November 1, 2023, to February 15, 2024. In the second phase, cylinder refills have been distributed to approximately 50.87 lakh beneficiaries from January 1, 2024, until the present time. Consequently, a total of 131.17 lakh (over 1.31 crore) cylinder refills have been distributed thus far under the scheme. While launching the scheme on November 10, 2023, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath simultaneously transferred the subsidy amount to the accounts of lakhs of Ujjwala beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, CM Yogi on Saturday warned officials against any laxity, or negligence in resolving people's issues, emphasizing that addressing the problems of people and ensuring their prompt, transparent and satisfactory disposal is the priority of his government, an official statement said on Saturday.
The Chief Minister issued these instructions to officials while hearing the problems of around 500 people at the Janata Darshan held outside Mahant Digvijaynath Smriti Bhawan in the Gorakhnath temple complex. —ANI
