Smriti Irani slams Odisha Government for neglecting Ayushman Bharat scenes

BHUBANESWAR: Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday criticised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for depriving the Odia people of Central schemes such as Ayushman Bharat.
Interacting with Ujjwala beneficiaries of the State through video conferenceing from New Delhi, Irani advised the women participants to ask the State Government as to why they have been deprived of the Central health insurance scheme. She slammed the BJD Government for not implementing the scheme due to vested political interests.

Appreciating the efforts of Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan for connecting six crore households, including 36 lakh in Odisha under the Ujjwala scheme, Irani said this is the best possible way of empowering the rural women by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Setting an eye on the Ujjwala beneficiaries, the Petroleum Ministry has started Ujjwala Swabhiman Utsav where Pradhan and other Union ministers are interacting with the beneficiaries who had availed free LPG connection under the Central scheme. The mission is expected to renew the Government’s relationship with the beneficiaries ahead of Lok Sabha polls and boost the party’s image among the poor. 
Denying any political motive behind this, Pradhan said, “We never thought about Ujjwala as a political instrument. It is a step towards empowerment and integration of the poor with the mainstream.”

Celebration of the Ujjwala Swabhiman Utsav provides an opportunity to interact with large number of beneficiaries and find out how much they have benefited from the scheme. It also gives an opportunity to the beneficiaries to redress their grievances, if any. Efforts are on to cover all the left out poor households of the State under the scheme, he added.

The first such programme was held on January 24 when Pradhan and Union Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi interacted with around 50,000 beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme in all the 30 districts of the State through video conferencing from Delhi. The beneficiary women had acknowledged how the scheme helped them and brought changes in their lives.