DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Haryana Chief Minister Sh. Nayab Singh Saini took a dig at the Opposition today and said the Congress does not want the poor to get facilities. He said the state government has provided benefits to every eligible person. Congress leaders used to spread the propaganda that when they come to power, they will close the online portals, but today, all citizens are getting benefits due to this online facility and because of this, their trust in the government has increased. The Chief Minister was responding to questions raised by the Opposition during discussion on the Governor's address during the budget session of the Haryana Legislative Assembly today.

Nayab Singh Saini said the pension of ineligible people was cut on the basis of information given by the head of the family in the Parivar Pehchan Patra. But the Opposition leaders asked why the pension of people was revoked.

He said the objective of the government is to give benefits to as many people as possible. Now, we have given this benefit to every eligible person, even then the Opposition is having problems, he said.

The Chief Minister said the Opposition leaders are talking about more BPL cards being made. If any BPL card has been made in the state in a wrong way, then it will be investigated. He said during the Congress regime, the business of giving recommendations was prevalent and BPL cards of the rich were made but the poor could not get included in the BPL category.

He said in the last 10 years, the state government has brought a change in the method of estimating the number of families below the poverty line. The central government had a rule that no more than 21 per cent of the population of any state can be above the below poverty line.

The state governments had the right to mark the families below this benchmark on the basis of 5 criteria and declare them BPL and give them yellow ration cards. Another criteria in this was that the annual income of the family should not exceed Rs 1.20 lakh. The poor have now got freedom from the population limit criteria and income limit criteria of Rs 1.20 lakh in BPL category. The Chief Minister said for the first time, the government included all the families with annual income up to Rs 1.80 lakh in BPL category.

(editor@dailyworld.in)