Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the 20th instalment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, transferring an amount of more than Rs 20,500 crores, into the bank accounts of 9.7 crore farmers.

With this release, the total disbursement under the scheme since its inception has surpassed Rs 3.90 lakh crore.

The PM-KISAN scheme is a central sector scheme launched in February 2019 by the Prime Minister to supplement the financial needs of land-holding farmers. Under the scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred in three equal instalments into the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of farmers through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.

Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone and inaugurated multiple development projects worth around Rs 2,200 crore in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.

On his 51st visit to his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi, PM Modi inaugurated the widening and strengthening of the Varanasi-Bhadohi Road and Chhitauni-Shool Tankeshwar road, as well as the Railway Overbridge at Hardattpur, to ease congestion on the Mohan Sarai-Adalpura Road.

He laid the foundation stone for comprehensive road widening and strengthening across multiple rural and urban corridors, including Dalmandi, Lahartara-Kotwa, Gangapur, Babatpur, among others and Railway Overbridges at Level Crossing 22C and Khalispur Yard.

Strengthening the power infrastructure in the region, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of various works under the Smart Distribution Project and the undergrounding of electrical infrastructure worth over Rs 880 crore.

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In a major boost to tourism, the Prime Minister inaugurated the redevelopment of eight riverfront Kuccha Ghats, development works at Kalika Dham, beautification of the pond and ghat at Rangildas Kutiya, Shivpur, and the restoration and water purification of Durgakund. He laid the foundation stone for restoration work at Kardameshwar Mahadev Temple, development of Karkhiyaon, the birthplace of several freedom fighters, City Facility Centres at Sarnath, Rishi Mandvi, and Ramnagar Zones, redevelopment of Munshi Premchand's ancestral house in Lamahi and upgradation of the museum, among others. He also laid the foundation stone for the development of an Urban Miyawaki Forest at Kanchanpur and the redevelopment and beautification of Shaheed Udyan and 21 other parks.