PM rolls out free LPG scheme for poor

LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today claimed that his government’s schemes were targeted at the poor and not at the ballot box. He was launching the Rs 8,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana from Ballia. The scheme aims to provide 5 crore free cooking gas connections to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the next three years.

PM Narendra Modi presents cooking gas connection to a woman in Ballia, UP, on Sunday. PTI

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, May 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today claimed that his government’s schemes were targeted at the poor and not at the ballot box.

He was launching the Rs 8,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana from Ballia. The scheme aims to provide 5 crore free cooking gas connections to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the next three years.

Recalling the anguish of his mother cooking on firewood, Modi said, “I also belong to a poor family and was born in a house that had no windows. My mother used to cook food on firewood. Often there was so much smoke that we would not see our mother. I can completely understand the pain of mothers and their children going through similar experiences as I have gone through it,” he said.

“The kitchen of the poor will no longer be filled with smoke—it will be filled with light,” he declared while pledging to ensure a better life for the poor in his regime.

Maintaining that he had not come to sound the poll bugle, the PM said he visited Jharkhand a few days ago to launch schemes although no elections were due there. Justifying the need to chose Ballia, he said, “I chose Ballia as LPG connections in UP are the lowest in Ballia.”

Pointing out that the number of poor in Uttar Pradesh had gone up despite the state having given several prime ministers to the country, Modi lamented that the fruits of development having not reached the eastern parts of the state.

Greeting workers on May Day, he said he appreciated the role of workers in the progress of India and called himself “Labourer No. 1”. He said the sweat of labourers was the best adhesive that could keep the society together.

He said his government initiated Shram Suvidha Portal that helped labourers of the nation by giving them a labour identity number.

Later in the day, Modi visited his constituency Varanasi where he interacted with prominent citizens at Gyan Pravah—Centre for Cultural Studies and Research.

He distributed e-rickshaws to beneficiaries and launched a scheme for environment-friendly e-boats at the famous Assi Ghat. The e-boats will not only reduce pollution, but will also bring down the operational costs, thereby enabling higher income for those who earn their livelihoods by plying such boats on the Ganga.