Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 15 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday warned that anyone attempting to disrupt festival celebrations would be promptly sent to jail, and announced that the state government is providing free LPG cylinders to 1 crore 86 lakh Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries as a Diwali gift, reiterating his government's focus on welfare, women's safety.

Addressing the gathering, CM Yogi said, 'If anyone tries to disrupt the joy and enthusiasm of this festival, the bars of the jail will be waiting for them; no matter who they are, they will be put behind bars without delay. Festivals and celebrations should be observed in a peaceful and harmonious manner. Over the last eight years, all festivals of every community in Uttar Pradesh have been celebrated peacefully... This is no longer a government that bows down to rioters...'

Addressing beneficiaries and officials at a programme to distribute free LPG cylinders, the chief minister congratulated the recipients of support under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and named his cabinet colleagues, Suresh Khanna, Dinesh Sharma, Sanjay Seth, and Mayor Sushma Kharkwar in his remarks. He described the distribution of free cylinders to '1 crore 86 lakh beneficiaries of the state' before Diwali as a Diwali gift, underlining the government's decision taken in 2021 to provide free cooking gas twice a year on the occasions of Holi and Diwali.

CM Yogi said the purpose behind the gesture was collective participation in the festival and relief for households, 'Your money is spent on such cooking gas.' He further added the twice-yearly free cylinders as part of the responsibility of a public welfare government to ensure benefits reach the needy, the poor, the Dalits and the deprived, and insisted eligible people must receive such facilities 'without any hindrance.'

Recalling the national Ujjwala rollout, he said that 'for the first time after independence, no poor person has been given this scheme' before 2014 and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for expanding access, adding that 'in 11 years, 11 crore poor people have received free LPG cylinders, including 18.6 million in Uttar Pradesh alone.'

He added that the scheme relieved families who previously cooked with wood, coal or kerosene, and said the benefit was especially for women. (ANI)