Economically backward families will now get three free cooking gas cylinders annually. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay officially announced this on Monday. He clarified that only families with an annual income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh will be considered eligible for this benefit.
Fulfilling a pre-election promise, Vijay said that this scheme, named ‘Annapurani Super Six’, will be implemented from the Pongal festival of 2027. Under the scheme, the woman head of the family will be the main beneficiary and the money for the cylinders will be directly deposited into their bank accounts. The government exchequer will spend around Rs 4,000 crore on this scheme, which is expected to benefit around 1.30 crore families in the state. The Chief Minister said this decision was taken to provide relief to common families in view of rising fuel prices due to the war situation in West Asia.
Alongside, the Chief Minister also announced free travel facility for women in long-distance, inter-district and deluxe buses. Under this new facility, along with women, transgender persons will also now be able to travel free in buses. This service will start from October 2 under ‘Vettri Payana Thittam’.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vijay also informed the Assembly that the construction work of the proposed second airport at Parandur in Chennai has been temporarily suspended keeping in view the interests of farmers and local people and that the government is identifying alternative sites.
