Gandhinagar, 25 August 2012

Addressing Garib Kalyan Mela through live video conference, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today said that the state government has distributed benefits worth Rs 10,500 crore through 900 Garib Kalyan Melas involving 8 million beneficiaries.

“Those who want to exploit the poor through schemes existing only on paper such as governments in the past did, are out on the streets in the election season, but the present government has in the last ten years allotted 16 lakh houses and 3.25 lakh plots to the poor,” Shri Modi said.

Shri Modi said, “if you kick out Gutkha from your house, education will step in, poverty will go. The state government wants to liberate people from malnutrition and intoxication and therefore from 5-11 September, the state will celebrate Gutkha Mukti Saptah (freedom from Gutka week) to save our poor people and especially our youth from death and cancer.