The Prime Minister said that his visit to Ballia to launch the Ujjwal Yojana had nothing to do with the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh due next year. “I was born in a very small house, there were no windows”.
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The ambitious Rs 8,000 crore scheme that will provide 5 crore free cooking gas connections to the poor will partly be funded using the money saved from the subsidies that 1.13 crore cooking gas users voluntarily gave up through the PM’s “Give It Up” initiative.
“We have shown how the petroleum sector is for the poor”.
Modi said that schemes that strengthen the people are important not schemes that strengthen vote banks.
Addressing a gathering on the famous Assi Ghat on the banks of the river Ganges here, Modi said “Our approach is in stark contrast with the governments of the past which cared only for vote banks and devised poverty alleviation schemes which never aimed at eradicating poverty as such but only garnering votes of the poor during elections”. “We expect the import ratio to rise to 50-55 per cent”, officials said.
Though Modi said that his visit to Ballia was not to sound the poll bugle for UP elections scheduled for next year, he asserted that development of UP was his priority.
When the prime minister spoke of a paperless office, the UP government began constructing a new office for the chief minister which would be paperless. In this century, our mantra should be: All shramiks of the world, let’s make the world one. “Earlier governments did not do anything for development of UP and we are putting in more funds than any government has pumped for UP’s development”, Modi said.
He mentioned the Shram Suvidha Portal, and the Labour Identity Number given to workers.
“Connectivity in this region, rail lines, and bridges- these issues were ignored but I congratulate all local MPs for ensuring these changes”.
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“In Varanasi will distribute e-rickshaws & interact with beneficiaries”. The e-boats will not only reduce pollution, but also bring down operational costs, thereby enabling higher incomes for those who earn their livelihoods through such boats on the Ganga.
