Lucknow, July 5 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath has sanctioned a whopping sum of Rs 223.31 crore in a little more than a year of his tenure for treatment of over 15,000 seriously-ill persons in Uttar Pradesh, a RTI response has revealed.

In response to the RTI poser by a Hindi newspaper, the Chief Minister's Office has revealed that he has so far sanctioned a sum of Rs 223.31 crores for treatment of 15,716 persons.

His predecessor Akhilesh Yadav's spend during his tenure of 2012-2017 under this head was Rs 552.92 crore which was used for treatment of 42,508 persons.

Officials of the Chief Minister's Office told IANS that this money was given to the seriously ill from the Chief Minister's Discretionary Fund after due diligence is done by his office as the applications are routed back to the districts concerned where officials asked to verify the disease mentioned by the applicant and also verify the amount sought for treatment.

Once this process is duly followed and adhered to the application is routed back to the Chief Minister's Office in Lucknow and the funds released, an official said, adding that the funds are not transferred to the beneficiary but is sent directly to the institution or hospital where the treatment is to be done.

Compared to Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav, their predecessors have been miserly on this front.

As per information available, Mayawati, during her two tenures, had sanctioned Rs 62.91 crore for treatment of 15,681 persons, Mulayam Singh Yadav, between 2003-2007, granted Rs 28.21 crore for treatment of 5,526 persons while Rajnath Singh had granted financial assistance of Rs 5.51 crore in his tenure of a little more than one year.

This grant is given to persons suffering from life-threatening diseases like cancer and liver, heart and kidney ailments.

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Bengaluru (PTI): To encourage the adoption of electric vehicles (EV), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) announced on Friday that a special EV fair will be organised for the Secretariat employees in January 2025.

During a meeting at the BESCOM office, Managing Director Mahantesh Bilagi said, "The fair is being organised following a directive of Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh and will be conducted under the supervision of Energy Minister K J George and Additional Chief Secretary of the Energy Department Gaurav Gupta."

According to him, the event aims to educate attendees about the benefits of environmentally friendly EVs and to encourage the adoption of two-wheeled EVs.

"During the fair, dealer discounts to government employees, particularly those in the Secretariat will also be offered. There will also be opportunities for practical demonstrations of the vehicles at the exhibition site," added Bilagi.

He said the Secretariat employees will also benefit from no down payment and low-interest loans to purchase the EV vehicles.

"EV companies are eager to participate and the sales will extend beyond the exhibition, continuing in the future," the Managing Director said.

The state, particularly Bengaluru, has the highest electric vehicle (EV) users, said Bilagi, adding that to support this, the Energy Department has provided essential infrastructure.

"BESCOM's efforts in promoting EV usage have been recognised with the 'Charge India 2024 Excellence' award. This award is a testament to our commitment to establishing excellent charging facilities. Karnataka has the country's most public electric vehicle charging stations, with a total of 5,765 stations, of which 4,462 are located in the Bengaluru Urban district," said Bilagi.

The Secretariat Employees' Association president Ramesh Sanga and other office-bearers, BESCOM Technical Director H J Ramesh as well as senior officials attended the meeting.