THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, Dec. 29: Chief Minister Hemant Soren made a big announcement regarding old age pension today in a function organised at Morhabadi grounds on the fourth anniversary of his government. He said that now the people of tribal and scheduled caste families will get pensions not after reaching 60 but only at 50 under the Universal pension scheme.
Corona a curse
He said that the Corona period was going on when his government was formed.“It was like a curse. Even so, Jharkhand is counted among the most backward states. Here, if a labourer does not work for a day, the stove in his house does not burn. At such a time, we were fighting both Corona and starvation. At that time, we gave oxygen to the entire country. We handled the whole situation without panicking. Two of our ministers died in this Corona. Tiger Jagarnath Mahato is no longer with us. We made his wife a minister,” he said.
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Taking a dig at the BJP, he said that when Jharkhand was born in 2000, instead of strengthening it, it was looted.
Migration at peak
“At that time, we were in the Opposition, so could not give anything except sympathy. Jharkhand got separated, but it could not get everything that could lead to the development of Jharkhand. When we came into government, the situation was quite dire. Here, migration was at its peak. In Corona, lakhs of labourers were stranded outside; we saved everyone. Even during the disaster, we did not let even a single person die of hunger, and these people had brought them to the state of starvation on ordinary occasions,” he said.
Previous govt emptied treasury
CM Hemant Soren said that when we had the government, we knew how bad the condition of the state had become, but we gave ration cards to the people.
“We gave pensions to the needy, but this will not help. Many poor people are facing problems even today,” he pointed out.
CM flays Centre
“Other states get money from the Centre today, but we do not. We connected 20 lakh farmers to KCC in just four years,” he said.
The chief minister announced that now, the Jharkhand government will distribute insured animals to the farmers. “Even if the animal dies, the government will pay for it, but earlier, it was not so. The earlier government used to give weak animals to the farmers, which used to die soon. In a state with no double-engine government, they are given step-motherly treatment. When the state was separated, there was money in the treasury, but the government of that time emptied the treasury and left us to die,” he added.
