MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj launches seven-point programme for the Women of Meerut

MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj sets seven commitments for Meerut’s women: safe streets, self-help groups, credit, health cover, girls in school & women in leadership

MEERUT, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA, October 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — MEERUT, UTTAR PRADESH, 23rd October, 2026 — MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj, Member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council from the Meerut–Ghaziabad Local Authorities constituency, today launched a seven-point programme for the women of Meerut City. Its seven commitments cover safety, self-help groups, credit, health, housing and cooking fuel, girls’ education and leadership.

The programme creates no new scheme. Instead, each commitment is tied to a programme the Union or state government already runs. Each one names the agency responsible for delivering it and sets a measure that will be published every quarter, ward by ward.

“Meerut’s women do not need another announcement. They need what has already been announced to reach their doorstep,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj. “This programme is about delivery, and delivery can be counted.”

WHY SEVEN COMMITMENTS :
Most of the help Meerut’s women need already exists on paper. The gap lies in reaching them. Women miss out when they do not know a scheme applies to them, when a document is missing, when a bank account is not linked to Aadhaar, or when nobody follows up on a file. Each of the seven commitments targets one of those gaps.
“Schemes are written in Delhi and Lucknow. They succeed or fail in a lane in Meerut,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj. “That lane is where this programme works.”
COMMITMENT ONE: SAFE STREETS AFTER DARK
Residents, women’s groups and local beat police will audit street lighting and safe routes in every ward. The findings will go to the Meerut Nagar Nigam with a request for time-bound repairs.
Under Uttar Pradesh’s Mission Shakti campaign, every police station in the state has a women’s help desk, and the state has directed that a Mission Shakti centre be set up in each one. MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj will ask the district police to publish the help-desk hours at the police stations serving Meerut City. A sustained drive will make sure every woman knows where to call:
• 1090 — UP Police Women Power Line, for harassment, stalking and threats, including online
• 181 — Women Helpline, for women facing violence
• 112 — Emergency response
• 1098 — Child helpline

COMMITMENT TWO: STRONGER SELF-HELP GROUPS
Uttar Pradesh has built one of India’s largest networks of women’s self-help groups. Under the state’s Rural Livelihood Mission, about 1.25 crore rural families are linked to more than 10.5 lakh groups. Women in Meerut City deserve the same organised access to savings, credit and markets.
The programme will map women’s self-help groups in every ward of the city, revive inactive groups and link them to bank credit. It will also seek space for their products in Nagar Nigam vending zones and at local fairs.

COMMITMENT THREE: CREDIT FOR WOMEN’S ENTERPRISE
MUDRA offers loans without collateral of up to ₹20 lakh, in four categories starting with Shishu loans of up to ₹50,000. In 2024-25, women held about 60 per cent of its loan accounts. For artisans in 18 traditional trades, including tailoring, PM Vishwakarma offers training with a stipend of ₹500 a day, a toolkit e-voucher of up to ₹15,000, and loans of up to ₹3 lakh at 5 per cent interest.

Dedicated camps, to be announced separately, will screen women artisans and home-based workers for both schemes and help them prepare complete loan files.
COMMITMENT FOUR: HEALTH COVER FOR EVERY ELIGIBLE FAMILY

Ayushman Bharat provides cashless hospital treatment of up to ₹5 lakh per eligible family per year. Since 29 October 2024, every citizen aged 70 or above is entitled to an Ayushman Vay Vandana card, regardless of income, which also gives cover of up to ₹5 lakh a year.
Neighbourhood camps will make cards for eligible families who have never enrolled, with a separate desk for women and men aged 70 and above.

COMMITMENT FIVE: A HOME AND A CLEAN KITCHEN
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana–Urban, a house built or bought with central assistance must be registered in the name of the woman who heads the household, or jointly with her. The programme will help eligible families apply and track their applications.
Ujjwala beneficiaries receive a central subsidy of ₹300 a cylinder on the first four refills each year. On 9 October 2026, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet also approved two free refills for 2026-27, the first between October and December 2026. Only beneficiaries whose bank accounts are linked to Aadhaar and authenticated can claim them, so the camps will check those links first.

COMMITMENT SIX: GIRLS IN SCHOOL
The Mukhyamantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana pays ₹25,000 to an eligible girl in six instalments: at birth, on completing vaccinations, on admission to Class 1, Class 6 and Class 9, and on entering a degree or diploma course after Class 12. Those admission stages are also the points where girls are most likely to drop out.
The programme will use those stages as checkpoints. Working with schools, parents and self-help groups, it will track whether eligible girls are enrolled at each stage and help families apply on time. It will also review infrastructure at Meerut City’s girls’ schools, including toilets, drinking water, classrooms and laboratories, and place the findings before the School Education Department.
“Every instalment of Kanya Sumangala is a sign that a girl has moved one step further,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj. “No girl in Meerut should miss a step because a form was not filled.”

COMMITMENT SEVEN: WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
Self-help group leaders and women ward workers will be trained in how the municipality works, how schemes are administered and how to take a problem to the right office. Women will take part in the programme’s public reviews as speakers and organisers, not only as audience members.
HOW THE PROGRAMME WILL BE RUN
• Every ward will receive a written plan for its first 90 days.
• Requests will be placed in writing with the Meerut Nagar Nigam, the district police, the Women and Child Development Department, the health department, the School Education Department, the Lead District Bank and the District Industries Centre.
• Every quarter, a public review will report what was promised, what was delivered and what is still pending, ward by ward.
“Count the lit lanes, the cards made, the loans sanctioned and the girls enrolled,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj. “That is how Meerut should judge this work, and that is how I will report it.”

WHERE THE WORK STARTS
Every ward follows the same seven commitments, but the order of work depends on local need:
• The old city (Begumpul, Lisari Gate, Khairnagar and Surajkund): street-light repairs, helpline awareness and Ujjwala account checks come first, because the old city’s narrow lanes and dense homes make lighting and kitchen safety most urgent.
• Brahmpuri: self-help group revival and MUDRA Shishu loan files lead.
• Indira Nagar, Civil Lines and Defence Colony: safe evening routes and skill partnerships for working women.
• Phoolbagh and nearby wards: the girls’ school review and Kanya Sumangala enrolment checks move first.
• Nehru Nagar, Preet Vihar and Mangal Pande Nagar: return visits after the June 2026 door-to-door outreach, with neighbourhood camps for Ayushman, Ujjwala and Kanya Sumangala.

WHAT EACH COMMITMENT WILL MEASURE
Each commitment has one clear public measure, to be reported every quarter:
1. Safe streets: dark stretches reported, and dark stretches repaired.
2. Self-help groups: groups mapped, groups revived, and groups linked to bank credit.
3. Credit: PM Vishwakarma registrations made, and MUDRA files opened and sanctioned.
4. Health cover: Ayushman and Vay Vandana cards made.
5. Home and kitchen: PMAY-Urban applications filed, and Ujjwala accounts linked to Aadhaar.
6. Girls in school: Kanya Sumangala applications filed at each stage.
7. Leadership: women trained, and women speaking at public reviews.

WHAT A WOMAN CAN DO TODAY

She does not need to wait for a camp to start. Many of these services can be checked or started now:
• Safety: call 1090, 181 or 112 at any time.
• Health cover: check eligibility on the Ayushman app or at beneficiary.nha.gov.in, or call 14555.
• Kanya Sumangala: check eligibility and apply at mksy.up.gov.in.
• Ujjwala: check the connection at pmuy.gov.in, and ask the LPG distributor whether the bank account is linked to Aadhaar before the free-refill window closes in December.
• PM Vishwakarma: visit the nearest Common Service Centre with an Aadhaar card to register.
“The best version of this programme is one where a woman in Meerut never needs my office, because every door she knocks on opens the first time,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj. “Until then, my office will keep knocking with her.”

ABOUT MLC DHARMENDRA BHARDWAJ
Dharmendra Bhardwaj is a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council from the Meerut–Ghaziabad Local Authorities constituency. He was elected on 12 April 2022, defeating Sunil Rohta, the candidate of the Samajwadi Party–Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance. Members for Local Authorities constituencies are elected by the elected representatives of local bodies, and his work connects the councils, panchayats and municipal bodies of Meerut and Ghaziabad with the state government.
He comes from village Ikdi in Sardhana tehsil of Meerut district. He began his working life as a chemistry teacher in 1992 and completed an M.Sc. at N.A.S. College, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, in 1997.
Education has remained at the centre of his public life. He has been Chancellor of Motherhood University, Roorkee, since 2019, and is Chairperson of Mahaveer Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital, Meerut. He is also a member of the executive councils of Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, and Maa Shakumbhari University, Saharanpur.
In the Legislative Council and in his constituency work, he concentrates on civic services, women’s welfare, youth employment and Meerut’s sports-goods economy, and publishes the demands his office places with government agencies along with their outcomes.

Dharmendra Bhardwaj
Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative council
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