Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a big revelation when he claimed that during his tenure around three crore poor families of the country had become ‘lakhpatis’ because they got their own houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 80 per cent of which were owned by women.
"My friends, who lived in slums, did not have a pucca roof; such three crore families have got the opportunity to become ‘lakhpati’. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, about three crore houses have been built in the country; you can guess their cost now. These people can claim themselves as ‘lakhpatis’,” the prime minister said here after inaugurating the three-day 'Azadi 75’ – New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape Conference-cum-Expo’ here on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Modi said that he was saying such a thing for the first time because he knew that after hearing this, the opposition parties would spend their time and energy challenging this claim.
Modi said that in the last seven years, the government had approved the construction of more than 1.13 crore houses in cities under PMAY and out of these more than 50 lakh houses had been built and handed over to the poor.
"I am also happy that in the houses being given under this scheme more than 80 per cent of the houses are in the names of women or they are joint owners," he said.
The prime minister used this opportunity to lash out at the previous Samajwadi Party government saying: "Before 2017, the Centre had sanctioned 18,000 PM Awas in the state but the then state government did not even construct 18 houses. But our government led by Yogi Adityanath did a commendable job by constructing nine lakh PM Awas and another 14 lakh are under construction. People should know who has worked for them.”
“Before 2017, electricity was there where politicians went and roads were constructed only on the recommendations of the ruling party politicians. But now things have changed,” the prime minister said.
The prime minister also gave the UP government a target to lit at least two diyas during the Deepawali festival in all the nine lakh houses of the PM Awas Yojana.
"During the Deepawali festival this year, Ayodhya will light 7.50 lakh diyas but it is my wish that along with Ayodhya, all the nine lakh PM Awas beneficiaries should also light at least two diyas on their doorstep during the festival," he said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was on the stage, nodded his head in affirmation.
The prime minister said that UP was the land of Lord Ram, Lord Krishna and Lord Buddha and it was the commitment of the Bharatiya Janata Party government to develop it as desired by the people.
"Our government has made a very serious effort to provide relief to the urban middle class," he asserted.
Narrating in detail the achievements of his government in providing urban facilities, the prime minister said under PM Svanidhi Yojana, street vendors were being linked with banks.
“Through this scheme, help of more than Rs 2,500 crore has been given to more than 25 lakh people. In this too, more than seven lakh people of UP have taken advantage of Svanidhi Yojana." he said.
The prime minister said that framing of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act was a big step towards protecting the rights of the house buyers. "This law has helped in getting the entire housing sector out of mistrust and fraud," he said.
Talking about LED lights, the prime minister said that urban bodies were saving about Rs 1,000 crore every year by installing LED street lights and now this amount was being used for other development works. LED lamps had also greatly reduced the electricity bill of the people living in cities, he added.
Modi said that technology had brought a big change in the urban sector in India in the last 6-7 years. "Technology is the basis of the Integrated Command and Control Centres running in more than 70 cities of the country today and now every city is equipped with CCTV cameras which have reduced the crime rate.
Mentioning the Metro services, Modi said today, Metro service was expanding rapidly to major cities across the country. He said in 2014, the metro used to run on less than 250-km routes and today the metro trains were running on about 750 km routes. Besides, he said, work was going on more than 1,000 km of metro tracks in the country.
Modi, who also inaugurated the Atal Bihari Vajpayee chair at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow, said," Today, in his memory, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Chair is being established at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University. Lucknow has given a visionary in the form of Atal ji to the nation dedicated to our motherland."
He also appealed to the people of Lucknow to visit the exhibition during this three-day urban conclave to watch the real changes in the cities and what was to come in the future.