New Delhi, May 22: As many as 16,850 villages of 484 districts across the country are getting benefits of seven flagship welfare schemes, including Ujjwala and Saubhagya, of the BJP-led NDA government, BJP President Amit Shah said here on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference on the achievements of Modi government in last four years, he also said the Narendra Modi-government is working to ensure that benefits of all the seven schemes reaches to all villages before it goes to election in 2019 to seek fresh mandate of the people.

"There is not even a single person who has not been getting the benefits of the seven schemes in these villages. With the efforts of Narendra Modi government, we have been successful in connecting all the houses of these villages with electricity. We have provided every hold with gas connection and benefits of social security schemes. They were all given LED lights and all the children below the age of two are vaccinated," Shah said.

Working on the same line, he said, the government is now aiming to extend the benefit of these seven schemes in new 45,000 villages in 115 districts soon.

"We will try to extend the benefit of these seven schemes to new 45,000 villages having the population of more than 1,000 by August 15. Our aim is to slowly extend these benefit to all the villages in the country.

"The benefit of these schemes were given to all the states in the country apart from Karnataka and West Bengal. They were not included due to elections," he said.

Shah said that the Bharatiya Janata Party between April 14 and May 5 has held the "Gram Swaraj Abhiyan" in over 16,500 villages across the country.

Launched on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, the campaign ensured that the benefit of seven programmes - Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya, Ujala scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush - reached these 16,850 villages.

During the campaign, a total of 3,68,978 programmes were launched in which over 1 crore people took part, he said while giving a powerpoint presentation over the achievements of the government.

Under the Saubhagya Yojana, more than five lakh households were electrified and under the Ujala scheme over 25 lakh LED bulbs were distributed, while through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, bank accounts opened for over 20 lakh people, who were added to the national economy.

About 11 lakh families were given gas connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, he added.

He said that Modi will address a rally at Cuttack on the completion of his government's four years.

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Lucknow (PTI): Amid the LPG crisis, Uttar Pradesh's Food and Civil Supplies Department conducted raids at 1,483 locations here and arrested six people in an operation to check black marketing of cooking gas cylinders, according to an official statement.

The raids were conducted on Friday, along with the district administration.

As part of the operation, 24 FIRs were registered, said the statement issued by the Uttar Pradesh government late on Friday night.

In line with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's instructions, the Food and Civil Supplies Department and the district administration are continuously monitoring the supply system of LPG cylinders and conducting inspections and raids across the state so that no shortage or irregularity occurs anywhere, it said.

In this regard, Chief Secretary S P Goyal has issued instructions to all district magistrates to take all necessary steps to maintain the availability of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders.

Uttar Pradesh is the first state to initiate swift and strict action against black marketing. Under this drive, enforcement teams at the district level conducted inspections and raids at a total of 1,483 locations on Friday, the statement said.

During this operation, four FIRs were registered against LPG distributors and 20 against other individuals involved in the black marketing of LPG gas. Six persons were arrested from the spot and prosecution was initiated against 19 individuals, it said.

Through 4,108 LPG gas distributors operating in the state, delivery of LPG cylinders has been ensured to consumers according to their bookings.

Adequate stock of LPG cylinders is available with the distributors, and domestic LPG refills are being supplied as required, the statement said.

To monitor the supply system and ensure quick resolution of any issue, a 24-hour control room has been established at the office of the food commissioner. Officers of the Food and Civil Supplies Department have been deployed there, it said.

Control rooms have also been established in all districts across the state.