New Delhi: Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Union Textiles Minister, Smriti Irani, Thursday criticized the Odisha government for not providing benefits of Ayushmaan Bharat scheme to the people of the state. The ministers were celebrating Ujjwala Swabhiman Utsav across Odisha through video conferencing.
While addressing people from 28 locations of the state through video conferencing here, Smriti Irani said the Union government has launched Ayushmaan Bharat scheme to provide medical insurance worth Rs 5 lakh to the people from families below poverty line (BPL).
“More than 10 lakh people have been registered under the Ayushmaan Bharat scheme in the country. But when we asked about the number of people registered in Odisha, we got to know that the state government has denied its people the benefits of the scheme because of political vendetta,” said Irani
Dharmendra Pradhan also criticized Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the same reason.
During the address, Pradhan and Irani talked to several women and asked them about the changes in their life after they started using LPG cylinders.