The government said on Saturday that over 42 crore people had received financial assistance of Rs 65,454 crore so far under its Garib Kalyan Package. The package was announced by the government in March to provide support in the form of free food grains and cash payment to women, poor senior citizens and farmers, against the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown. Central and state governments will continue to monitor the implementation of the Garib Kalyan Package, the finance ministry said in a statement.
The government said an amount of Rs 17,891 crore was front-loaded towards payment of the first instalment of its PM-KISAN minimum income initiative for farmers. There were 8.94 crore beneficiaries under the programme, it said.
A total Rs 10,325 crore was credited as first instalment to 20.65 crore Jan Dhan financial inclusion accounts held by women, and Rs 10,315 crore and Rs. 10,312 crore to 20.62 crore accounts each as second and third instalments respectively.
Under the scheme, 2.3 crore building and construction workers were provided financial support worth Rs 4,312.82 crore.
A total 8.52 crore cooking gas cylinders were were booked and delivered under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala scheme, which aims to provide clean cooking fuel solution to poor households, the finance ministry said. Also, 2.1 crore cylinders were booked and 1.87 crore delivered to beneficiaries so far for June.
As many as 20.22 lakh members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) received the benefit of online withdrawal of non-refundable advance worth Rs 5,767 crore, it said. Also, 24 per cent of EPF contribution was transferred to the accounts of 65.74 lakh employees amounting to Rs 996.46 crore, the government said.