Around 42 crore poor received financial assistance of Rs 53,248 cr under PMGKP

About 42 crore poor people have received financial assistance of Rs 53,248 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP), the finance ministry said on Wednesday.

On March 26, the government had announced the Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package to help the vulnerable sections of the society deal with the COVID-19 crisis. The package entails free food grains and cash payment to women, elderly, farmers and others.

The ministry said implementation of the package is being continuously monitored by central and state governments.

"Around 42 crore poor people received financial assistance of Rs 53,248 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP)," it said.

Giving details of the progress achieved till Tuesday, it said Rs 16,394 crore was front loaded towards payment of the first instalment of PM-KISAN to 8.19 crore beneficiaries, and Rs 20,344 crore credited to women Jan Dhan account holders in two instalments.

Besides, Rs 2,814.5 crore has been disbursed to about 2.81 crores elderly, widows and disabled persons in two installments. Under PMGKP, 2.3 crore building and construction workers also received financial support amounting to Rs 4,312.82 crore.

The ministry further said so far 101 lakh MT of food grains have been lifted by 36 states/Union Territories for April.

"36.93 LMT of food grains have been distributed, covering 73.86 crore beneficiaries by 36 States/UTs for April 2020.

"32.92 LMT of food grains have been distributed, covering 65.85 crore beneficiaries by 35 States/UTs for May 2020," it said.

It added that 3.58 LMT of food grains have been distributed, covering 7.16 crore beneficiaries by 17 states/UTs for June.

Also, 5.06 LMT of pulses have been dispatched to various states/UTs. A total of 1.91 LMT of pulses have been distributed so far to 17.9 crore household beneficiaries out of 19.4 crore such beneficiaries, the ministry said.

Further, 9.25 crore Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) LPG cylinders have been booked so far and 8.58 crore free cylinders delivered to beneficiaries.

As per the ministry, 16.1 lakh members of EPFO have taken benefit of online withdrawal of non-refundable advance from EPFO account amounting to Rs 4,725 crore.

Also, 24 per cent EPF contribution has been transferred to 59.23 lakh employees' accounts amounting to Rs 895.09 crore.