Allahabad, Feb 29 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said ensuring that all citizens get benefit and justice is the government’s responsibility and also the base of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas’.
“It is the responsibility of the government that every person is benefitted and every person gets justice. This is the base of sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas,” he said reciting a Sanskrit shloka at a mega camp after distributing assistive devices among people with disabilities and senior citizens.
Modi said serving 130 crore people of the country is the priority of his government.
Hitting out at previous governments, he said they did not care for people with disabilities but his dispensation was thinking about their problems and finding ways to reduce their issues.
During previous governments, very few camps such as these used to be organised, he said.
“In the last five years, our government held around 9,000 camps in various parts of the country. In the five years of the previous government, equipment to people with disabilities worth less than Rs 380 crore were distributed, while our government gave equipment worth more than Rs 900 crore, which is two-and-half times,” he said.
“I am of the view that these equipment will only assist your ‘buland hausla’ (strong confidence). Your real strength is your patience, capacity (saamarthya) and mind (maanas),” he said, adding that he has been told that many records are being created at this camp.
During his over 30-minute address, the prime minister gave an account of government schemes for the differently-abled and senior citizens.
“In the last four-five years, hundreds of streets in the country, more than 700 railway station, airports have been made convenient (sugamya) for the divyaangjan. Those which are left are being linked with Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan,” he said.
“It was our government, which brought a law that for the first time clearly stated the rights of the divyaangjan. The benefit of this law was that it increased the ambit of divyaang category from 7 to 21,” he said, adding that reservation for people with disabilities in institutes of higher studies has been increased from 3 per cent to 5 per cent.
The prime minister also said his government was working for the welfare of senior citizens.
“The government launched Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana almost three years ago, so that poor senior citizens could get necessary equipment. In the past five to five-and-half years, cost incurred in treatment of senior citizens has become quite low as compared to earlier time,” he said.
Recalling his earlier visit to Allahabad (no renamed Prayagraj), Modi said, “One always experiences a unique feeling of piousness and energy by coming to ‘Teertharaj’ Prayagraj. I remember it was during last February when I came during the Kumbh.”
