Dehradun, Mar 27 (PTI) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has welcomed the Centre's decision to extend its free foodgrain programme by six months, saying the poor will benefit immensely from it.

In a statement on Saturday, he also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision.

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The Centre on Saturday extended the 'Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)' by six months till September 30 at a cost of Rs 80,000 crore. The scheme has been extended several times and its Phase-V was to end in March 2022.

Under the scheme, which was launched in March 2020 when India went into a stringent lockdown, 5 kg of foodgrains are provided free of cost to over 80 crore beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act.

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Dhami said the decision "reflects the Centre's concern for the poor and its sensitivity to the problems faced by them".

Launched exclusively for the poor during the peak of the coronavirus crisis, it is one of the biggest food security schemes in the world, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)