President Pranab Mukherjee dedicated 1,088 houses built costing Rs 81 cr under the Awas Yojna (Houses for All) at Gwalior on Monday. He said that houses will be provided to around 3.5 cr homeless people of the country by 2022. A programme is being implemented by the State and the Union Governments. He expressed the hope that the Government will achieve the target within stipulated time.
Mukherjee as a token presented the possession letters and keys of the houses to six beneficiaries. He suggested that there is a need to add education and health with the slogan of Roti, Kapda and Makan.
Governor OP Kohli, Union Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar, State's Minister for Urban Development Maya Singh, Minister for Higher Education Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya and Mayor Vivek Narayan Shejwalkar besides public representatives, officers and beneficiaries were present at the function.
The President while congratulating the citizens of Gwalior for linking Gwalior in the smart city chain said that the Madhya Pradesh Government under the leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan is making constant efforts for the welfare of the poor and development of the State.
He said that during his parliamentary address in the year 2015, a discussion about dreams of the poor for having their own houses was held. And work was started by the Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after taking serious note of the issue. He congratulated the Prime Minister for this. An ambitious scheme, 'Pradhanmantri Awas Yojna,' has been prepared by the Union Government setting a target to provide houses to around 3.5 crore houseless people of the country by 2022.
Expressing concern over urbanization in the country, Mukherjee said that there is increase in the trend of urbanization whenever rural economy becomes weak.
Mukherjee further said that the slogan of 'Roti, Kapda and Makan' has become old now. Now education and health should be added to it. He said that India is a democratic country and over 80 crore people had cast their votes, including youths in large numbers in 2014 general elections. Youths need facilities of education and health besides roti, kapda and makan.
The President said that houses are being constructed for the poor of the rural areas also. This Government must fulfil its promise to provide houses to all till 2022.
The Governor said that many public welfare schemes and programmes are being run by the Government in Madhya Pradesh, having rich culture, history and tourism. He congratulated the beneficiaries receiving the keys of their own house under the IHSDP scheme and said that the need of developing such housing system has been felt for cities too because of the trend of migration to the cities.