India News | 'Viksit Bharat' Yatra Important Medium to Reach out to People Widely, Say BJP Leaders

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra has become an important medium to reach out to the people who have not been able to connect with government schemes till now, many BJP leaders said on Saturday.

Several programmes were organised under the banner of the Yatra in Delhi earlier in the day.

Also Read | Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Dies at 86: PM Narendra Modi Condoles Death of Kuwait’s Ruling Emir.

Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani, BJP national vice president Baijayant Jay Panda, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva were among others who joined the function held on the premises of Civic Centre -- headquarters of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the benefits of the welfare schemes have reached people "without any discrimination" in the last nearly one decade, Goyal told reporters after the event.

Also Read | Yumsen Matey Shot Dead: Former Arunachal Pradesh MLA Killed by Suspected Militant.

Panda in his address spoke of some of the major schemes of the Modi government and its achievements in this period such as Ayushman Bharat and Ujjwala schemes.

Besides, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Lok Sabha member Ramesh Bidhuri joined at a separate Yatra event at Dakshinpuri, while Union minister Meenakashi Lekhi joined at a function at Sanjay Camp in Chanakyapuri, the Delhi BJP said in a statement.

The Union ministers said the main objective of taking out the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is to "achieve perfection" in the major schemes of the Modi government, and under this it will be ensured that these schemes are implemented.

And that benefit reaches targeted beneficiaries in a timely manner, they concurred.

The BJP leaders said that Vikshit Bharat Sankalp Yatra has become "an important medium" to reach out to those people who have not been able to connect with government schemes till now.

The Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 15 from Khunti, Jharkhand, has emerged as a transformative expedition fostering connections with citizens nationwide, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement on December 8.

As of December 7, the Yatra had reached more than 36,000 gram panchayats and witnessed participation of over one crore citizens, according to the data captured on the customized portal developed by MEITY, it said.

India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh leads with more than 37 lakh participants, followed by Maharashtra 12.07 lakh and Gujarat 11.58 lakh.

The yatra has received encouraging reception in Jammu & Kashmir as well, with more than nine lakh people participating till date.

The Delhi BJP in a statement also said one of the goals of the yatra is to "reach out to many people who are still not connected with the schemes of the Modi government or have not been able to reach them".

Within a short span, the urban segment of the yatra has reached more than 700 locations and a total of 79 lakh individuals have taken the pledge to strive to make India a developed nation by 2047, the ministry said in its statement last week.

In an unprecedented outreach effort, the yatra strives to cover gram panchayats across the country and more than 3,600 urban local bodies using information, education, and communication vans that call upon people to utilise government schemes for their benefit.

(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)