Dist admn to distribute blankets among the destitute from today

LUCKNOW: In a bid to provide some relief to destitute and homeless people this winter, the district administration will launch a mass blanket distribution programme from Wednesday.

The programme to distribute blankets among people living in nigh shelters and other public places will be launched in all tehsils wherein administrative officials will distribute blankets worth ` 25 lakhs.

According to officials, the fund for blanket distribution has been provided by the state government.

“It’s going to be a mass level program under which we will try to cover almost every needy person,” district magistrate Raj Shekhar said.

He said the district administra- tion has purchased about 6,157 blankets for distribution. “The blankets have been purchased through an open tender and their quality checked by national laboratories,” said Shekhar.

He said the administration had allocated around 1,757 blankets to be distributed in Sadar tehsil, while 1,100 blankets each would be distributed among the destitute in remaining tehsils.

The DM said that administrative officials including SDMs, tehsildaars and lekhpaals have been directed to carry out a survey to identify the needy people before distributing blankets. “The blankets would be distributed after the survey that is expected to be completed in a day or two,” he said.

The district administration has also decided to set up bonfires at several places and Rs 2.5 lakh has been allocated for this purpose. Of the total amount, Rs 50,000 has been given to each tehsil for setting up bonfire. On the city limits, the DM said, bonfire would be set up at 52 points by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.