Tamil Nadu: Free Gas Cylinders, More Free Bus Rides In Vetri Vision
The scheme that would benefit over 1.3 crore families with annual income less than Rs2.5 lakh: Reports
CHENNAI: Announcing more schemes under the 'Vetri Vision' document of the TVK government, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay said all women and transgendered persons would be able to travel free of cost in Express, LSS, Deluxe and mofussil government buses, too, from October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and every poor family would get six free gas cylinders a year for cooking purposes from next Pongal in January.
Making the announcements under Rule 110 in the State Assembly on Monday, Vijay said the cost of the gas cylinders, to be provided under the Annapoorani Super Six scheme, would be reimbursed with the amount credited to the accounts of the women soon after the cylinders were supplied to them.
The scheme that would benefit over 1.3 crore families with annual income less than Rs2.5 lakh would be implemented despite the escalation in cost of gas cylinders due to the war-like situation prevailing in the gulf region during the last four months, which had also caused a shortage in gas cylinders in the market, he said.
The expansion the of the old free bus ride scheme for women, which was hitherto confined to ordinary buses in cities and towns and to a maximum 40 km travel in hilly regions, would enable woman living in any part of the State to undertake journeys that would increase their opportunities, thus ushering in social justice, he said.
Vijay said the ‘Vetri Payanam’ (triumphant journey) was not a mere ride in the bus but a social capital that ensured a girl student’s education, a worker’s employment opportunity, a mother’s family responsibility and an entrepreneur’s development.
The scheme would help women living anywhere in the State have free mobility and economic progress with the help of the government that would bear an additional cost of Rs 6000 crore a year and uphold social justice, he said.
For supplying the free gas cylinders that would be beneficial to economically backward families, micro and small farmers’ families, differently abled people and similar socially deprived households, the government would allot around Rs 4,000 crore and work on the implementation of the scheme had already begun, Vijay said.