Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi BJP leaders distribute cooking gas connections under Ujjwala Yojna

He was accompanied by the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore and Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi.On the occasion, Puri said Mahatma Gandhi gave utmost importance to cleanliness and had called upon the people in 1916 itself to imbibe personal hygiene and ensure the cleanliness of the surroundings.

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri along with Delhi BJP leaders distributed cooking gas connections under the Ujjwala Yojna.

According to a Delhi BJP statement, the beneficiaries who got gas connections were poor women. They were also provided gas stoves, blankets, fruits and other items, it stated. Citing the Ujjwala Yojna, PM Awaas Yojna and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao schemes, Puri, who is the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, said the Narendra Modi government's schemes have benefitted women the most.

When Modi became prime minister in 2014, there were 14 crore cooking gas connections. Now, the number has gone up to 30 crore, he was quoted as saying in the Delhi BJP statement.

Puri, who is also minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, felicitated sanitation workers and frontline workers at the Central Park in Connaught Place. He was accompanied by the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore and Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi.

On the occasion, Puri said Mahatma Gandhi gave utmost importance to cleanliness and had called upon the people in 1916 itself to imbibe personal hygiene and ensure the cleanliness of the surroundings. Prime Minister Modi gave a concrete shape to the vision of the Father of the Nation and launched Swachh Bharat Mission seven years ago. The mission has been hugely successful in not only creating physical infrastructure and facilities but also generating awareness among people and making it a people's movement, he said. Puri said the country, by and large, became open-defecation free by 2019 itself, and the SBM-2, launched by the prime minister on Friday aspires to make the country garbage-free in the next five years.

Over the next two days, about 15 lakh Safai Mitras and Swachhta Warriors across the country will be felicitated by the urban local bodies, the minister said.

''This is a way of acknowledging their role and contribution in making the country clean,'' he said. Kishore called upon the citizens to not only clean their surroundings but also stay away from addiction to alcohol and drugs.

Puri also administered a 'swachhta pledge' to all those present at the event.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)