Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that the state government is committed towards the upliftment of all sections of the society, especially the weaker sections. He said that several schemes have been launched by the state government for the economic upliftment and welfare of such sections.The Chief Minister said that an important decision has been taken by the State Government for identification of the 'Priority Household', the revised income limit would be Rs. 45000, which would cover 1,50,000 additional families of the state under Food Security Act and they would be provided with food items at subsidized rates.He said that 6,78,338 families of the state are covered under the National Food Security Act with a total population of 27,84,717 whereas the target of National Food Security Act for the state is 36,81,586.The Chief Minister said that as a result of this decision, now these families can avail wheat flour at Rs 3.30 and rice at Rs. 2 per kilogram. He said that on this, there would be an additional expenditure of Rs 10 crore per year.He said that it has also been decided by the state government that now consumers would be able to purchase any three pulses per month among Dal Urad, Dal Chana, Dal Malka and Moong at subsidized rates.Jai Ram Thakur said that in order to provide essential food items at fair price to the people, the State Government allocated Rs. 225 crore under the State Subsidy Scheme for current financial year.The Chief Minister said that today the whole world is struggling with the corona pandemic and economic activities have been affected badly.
He said that the most affected by this are the weaker sections of society. He said that in view of this, several decisions have been taken in the state cabinet meeting held recently to provide fair price ration to the weaker sections of the society through fair price shops.He said that on recommendations of the Cabinet Sub-Committee constituted for 'Post COVID-19' economic revival, the cabinet decided to exclude about 1,50,000 income tax payers of the state for one year from receiving the benefit of subsidy under the target public distribution scheme. He said that the objective of this decision is to benefit the weaker sections of the society as much as possible. He said that as soon as economic activities would come on track, the government could reconsider this decision after one year.The Chief Minister said that the government has also decided that until now the APL families were given subsidy up to Rs 30 per kg on pulses, which has now been reduced to Rs 20 per kg.Jai Ram Thakur said that similarly the government has also decided to reduce subsidy of edible oil provided to APL families from Rs. 10 per liter to Rs 5 per liter. He said that likewise subsidy on sugar for APL families has also been reduced by only Rs 6 per kg. He said with this decision, the government intends to provide benefit to maximum number of weaker sections of society.The Chief Minister hoped that the privileged section of the society would support these decisions taken by the government in this period of the corona pandemic, so that maximum number of poor people could be provided food at reasonable prices. He said that the decision of the state government would save about Rs 60-70 crore, which would further be used to tackle the COVID pandemic and uplift the weaker sections of the society.