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PM: People’s lives could have been bettered decades ago
Launching Ujjwala 2.0 virtually in Mahoba, the Prime Minister targets non-BJP governments, points out how his government worked to fulfil basic needs of people. Says PNG connections to be given to 21 lakh households in over 50 districts of UP .
Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday targeted the non-BJP governments that ruled the country since independence, saying certain conditions and situations could have been changed decades ago to make the lives of people better.
“We are entering the 75th year of independence and when we see the progress made in the past seven and a half decades, we realise that certain conditions and situations could have been changed long ago,” said Modi after launching Ujjwala 2.0 (Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana), distributing LPG connections at a programme in Mahoba in Uttar Peadesh’s Bundelkhand region via videoconferencing.
Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri and chief minister Yogi Adityanath also attended the programme. Yogi made a token distribution of LPG connections on the occasion.
Modi, who interacted with Ujjwala scheme’s five beneficiaries, including one from Gorakhpur, used the occasion to point out how his government had worked to fulfill basic needs of the people. He said the people had to wait for decades to get their basic needs fulfilled and the women, especially the poor, had to suffer the most. “How can a family and society progress and realise big dreams if it has to struggle for basic needs?” he asked. “Our sisters and daughters will be able to contribute to nation building only if their problems of kitchen and home are taken care of. We have worked in mission mode to resolve such issues,” he said.
He referred to the forthcoming festival of Raksha Bandhan to connect with the women, saying he was delighted to get blessings of his sisters well in advance. He also used the occasion to connect with the people of Bundelkhand, saying Ujjwala 2.0 was being launched from Mahoba, the land of the brave, and said the region was also the land of Major Dhyanchand after whom the highest award for sportspersons had been named to inspire lakhs of youths. He said by their exemplary performance at the Tokyo Olympics, the country’s sportspersons had given an indication about the future in the sports sector.
Giving statistical details about achievements of his government, he said under the first phase of Ujjwala scheme, LPG connections had been given to 8 crore women from the poor and deprived sections of society. He said India was close to achieving 100 per cent coverage on gas connection front and the number of gas connections given in the past seven years was higher than the total connections in the country till 2014.
He said a self-declaration of address would work to get an LPG connection in other states under Ujjwala 2.0, which would help migrant workers and added that efforts were also being made to supply piped natural gas.
The Prime Minister said expeditious work was being done to give PNG connections in UP and north-eastern states. A target to give PNG connections to 21 lakh households in over 50 districts of Uttar Pradesh had been set in the first phase. Efforts were also being made to boost use of CNG for transportation, he said.
The World Biofuel Day on Tuesday was a reminder about the targets on clean energy front, the PM said and added that India was close to achieving the target of 10 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol and would achieve 20 per cent blending in coming years. Vehicles would use 100 per cent ethanol in future.
Modi said Uttar Pradesh’s farmers would be benefitted the most with the option of making ethanol from sugarcane. Ethanol of about ₹7 lakh crore was bought from producers last year, he said. A number of units linked to ethanol and biofuel had come up in the state and plants were being set up in 70 districts to make compressed biogas.
He said three big complexes were also coming up to make biogas from ‘parali’ (stubble), including two in Badaun and Gorakhpur in UP and another in Bhatinda in Punjab. Another scheme Goverdhan Yojana was about making biogas from cow dung. Lauding the Yogi government, Modi said it had set up a large number of gaushalas (cow shelters) and efforts had also been made to protect crops of farmers.
‘LPG connection has made life easy’
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with beneficiaries of Ujjwala scheme, Kiran Devi from Gorakhpur informed how an LPG connection had made her life easy and requested him for financial help. “Our money is stuck up due to lockdown. I request you for some help,” Kiran Devi told the Prime Minister.She was among five beneficiaries of Ujjwala scheme from different states with whom the PM virtually interacted at the programme organized in Mahoba to launch Ujjawala 2.0. The PM, however, probably did not hear her and asked her more about benefits of Ujjwala scheme and whether or not she and the others were getting benefits of scheme of free ration distribution. She had joined the interaction with her daughter and wished the PM a long life.
