Slamming the previous UPA Government for exploiting its flagship housing scheme to “promote” one particular family and “create” vote banks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that his Government had built as many as 1.25 crore houses for the poor and needy during the last four years, as against a mere 25 lakh houses constructed by the Manmohan Singh dispensation during an earlier four years.
Speaking at a public meeting after participating in the centenary celebrations of Shri Saibaba Samadhi at Shirdi and handing over keys of houses to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin (PMAY-G), Modi indirectly targeted Gandhi-Nehru family by charging that the previous Government had exploited its flagship housing scheme to promote “one particular family” and derived political mileage out of them.
Maintaining that his Government was committed to giving one house to each of homeless families in the country by 2022 when India celebrates its 75 years of independence, the Prime Minister said that his Government had already traversed half the distance in its ambitious mission. “During the last four years, we have made a serious attempt to shift poor and middle class family from shanties and rented houses to their own houses. The previous Government had made this kind of an effort in the previous years as well. But, the intention of the previous Government was not to empower poor people through new houses, but it was promote one particular family and to create vote banks in the process,” Modi said.
“The previous UPA government did not think in terms of building a good house that has toilet, electric, water and gas connections. When there is no political axe to grind behind any Government scheme aimed at benefitting the poor and needy people, then you get inspired and the implementation of such schemes gathers momentum,” the Prime Minister said.
Comparing the number of houses built under the PMAY-G during by the current Government during the last four years and the number of houses constructed by the UPA Government during the previous corresponding period, Modi said: “The previous Government had constructed mere 25 lakh houses (under Indira Awas Yojana) across the country during four years. However, after the BJP-led Government came to power at the Centre, we built as many as 1.25 crore houses during the last four years. This means, the previous Government would have taken as many as 20 years to build that many houses we constructed during the last four years”.
Modi said that while the previous Government would take 18 months to build a house, while the NDA Government was doing it in less than 12 months.
The Prime Minister said that apart from reducing the time taken for constructing a house, the Government had increased the size of the house as well as the monetary assistance from Rs 70,000 to Rs 1.20 lakh (for each house). "The beneficiaries are chosen in a scientific and transparent manner. The subsidy is directly transferred to the bank account of the beneficiaries. In addition, we have taken care to ensure that the house is a long-lasting structure with all basic infrastructure facilities,” he said.
"People and resources are the same. But, our government’s intentions are clean. We are for the welfare of the people. That’s the results are also faster," he said.
Dwelling upon the Centre’s newly launched 'Ayushman Bharat' healthcare scheme (also known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana), the Prime Minister said that as many one lakh people had already benefited from the scheme within a month of its launch. “The average claim made by each beneficiary was Rs 20,000.Under Ayushman Bharat, 50 crore poor people would get free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh per year for serious ailments,” Modi said.
Referring to reports that Maharashtra had received deficient rainfall this year, the Prime Minister said that the Centre would provide assistance to the state through the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme.
Averring that the Centre was committed to encouraging tourism in Maharashtra, the Prime Minister said: “ In Maharashtra, there are many places associated with faith like Shirdi. There are places of tourist attraction like Ajanta-Ellora where visitors come all through the year. "I am told that there are now direct flights to Shirdi. The frequency of flights to Shirdi will be increased so that Saibaba devotees from all over the world can come there all through the year”.
Earlier in the day, Modi offered prayers at the Saibaba temple and took part in an event marking conclusion of the year-long Saibaba Mahasamadhi centenary programme organised by the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust. According to devotees, Sai Baba took Mahasamadhi or left the mortal form on the day of Dussehra or Vijayadashami.
On the occasion, tThe Prime Minister released a silver coin to commemorate Saibaba Mahasamadhi centenary year celebrations.
Modi distributed keys to a few of the 2.5 lakh families beneficiaries under the ambitious PMAY-G. After handing over the keys in person to a few of the families, the Prime Minister interacted with several beneficiary families via video-conferencing across different districts in the State.
He also performed the bhoomi puja for various development projects worth Rs 485.54 crore. These included a 10 MW solar power system, a new Rs 11.41 crore "darshan" queue shelter and the166.39 crore Sai Knowledge Centre.
