Rs 53,000 crore transferred via DBT under PMGKP

NEW DELHI: Around 42 crore beneficiaries have been directly given cash support through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) amounting to Rs 53,248 crores under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) till June 2, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Rs 1.7 lakh crore PMGKP package was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 to protect weaker and most vulnerable sections of the society from the impact of the lockdown due to Covid-19.

Under the package, the government announced free food grains and cash payment to women and poor senior citizens and farmers. It's swift implementation is being continuously monitored by Central and state governments.

So far, the government has transferred Rs 8,488 crore into the bank accounts of PM Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries. Also, 8.58 crore free Ujjwala cylinders have been delivered while a total of 9.25 crore cylinders have been booked. Under the package, the government has decided to distribute free cooking gas cylinders to Ujjwala beneficiaries for three months till June 30.

The Finance Ministry statement said that as of June 2, the government has also released an amount of Rs 895 crore for the benefit of 59.23 lakh EPFO account holder employees where government has decided to make the entire 24 per cent PF contribution of both employer and employees for a further period of three months.

The government has also released First instalment of PM-KISAN (Rs 16,394 crore) and transferred it to 8.19 crore identified farmers who got Rs 2,000 directly in their account. (IANS) 

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