Rs 32.20 crore released to 6,314 Scheduled Castes beneficiaries: Punjab minister Baljit Kaur

Chandigarh, July 12

An amount of Rs 32.20 crore has been released from the 2024-25 budget to 6,314 beneficiaries of the Scheduled Castes (SC) for the 2023-24 session under the Ashirwad Scheme for Scheduled Castes, said Minister of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities Dr Baljit Kaur.

She said the Punjab Government had released the amount for beneficiaries from Barnala (1), Faridkot (482), Gurdaspur (757), Hoshiarpur (1,356), Malerkotla (253), Moga (817), Sri Muktsar Sahib (935), Sangrur (854) and Tarn Taran (859) districts.

The Minister said to avail benefits of the scheme, an applicant must be a permanent citizen of Punjab, their family must come under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and they should belong to either the SC category, backward classes or other economically weaker classes. She said if the family’s annual income, from all sources, was less than Rs 32,790, two daughters of the family were eligible to avail the benefit of the scheme.