Question Hour
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 28 Feb: It was relatively a quiet day during Question Hour in the House today. In response to a short notice question by BJP’s Preetam Singh Panwar, Women Empowerment and Child Development Minister Rekha Arya informed the House that payments to the beneficiaries under the Nanda Gaura Scheme have been made till the year 2021-22. Panwar had sought to know about the payments pending.
In response to the supplementary question, Arya claimed that the payments due for the years 2022-23 and 2023-24 would also be made soon.
In response to another supplementary question, Rekha Arya made it clear that the scheme is applicable mainly to the girls studying in government schools and girls studying in private schools under Right to Education Act (RTE). She also made it clear that the scheme is applicable to the families which have an annual income of less than Rs 72,000 per annum and it is presumed that the girls studying in private schools come from the families that have higher annual income.
Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislative Party Bhuwan Kapri felt that many girls are forced to study in private schools due to lack of schools in their areas despite belonging to poor families and demanded that the Income Proof Certificates should be the only criterion for grants under the Gaura Nanda scheme.
Several starred questions were related to new ration cards not being issued under Antyodaya and Primary Family Card schemes. This issue was raised by BJP’s Pramod Nainwal, who said that while the units under Antyodaya scheme are easily stricken off on death or after marriage and a member of the family shifting out, but new names are not included despite being eligible. To this, Food & Civil Supplies Minister Rekha Arya responded that a particular quota is fixed for every state by the Centre under this scheme and only if there is a vacancy, then can new units be added. In order to add eligible names, a survey was conducted to strike off ineligible card holders. Against this, new but eligible numbers are added. The target of the units is full and active in the state, which is why new units are not being registered.
In response to a starred question by Brij Bhushan Gairola, Rekha Arya stated that, in the past 6 months, 3437 Primary Family Ration Cards have been issued. At present, in the state, 12,13,327 ration cards have been issued under National Food Security Scheme, while 1,83,713 cards have been issued under Antyodaya scheme.
In response to a starred question by Sumit Hridayesh of Congress, Sports Minister Rekha Arya stated that the International Stadium at Gaulapar, Haldwani, is a multipurpose stadium not just a cricket stadium and, hence, other sporting activities are being hosted there. She admitted that cricket tournaments have not been hosted there but reminded that it would be used extensively during the National Games.
