LUCKNOW: While the Yogi Adityanath government gears up to light 7.5 lakh ‘diyas’ (earthen lamps) in Ayodhya on Diwali, PM Modi on Tuesday exhorted the nine lakh beneficiaries of PMAY schemes in UP to come together and light 18 lakh lamps. “Each beneficiary should light up at least two diyas on the day of festival. Main UP ke logon se kehta hun ki roshni ki spardha mein aayein," he said, adding even Lord Ram would "feel happy".” he said.
He said, under PMAY (Urban) alone around Rs 1 lakh crore have been given as a grant to beneficiaries. Terming the poor who lived in shanties as his ‘parivar’ (family) and ‘saathis’ (companions), Modi said, his government has fulfilled their “biggest dream of life”.
Modi, at the same time, unleashed a scathing attack on previous Congress-led UPA government and former SP government in UP for poor implementation of housing schemes for poor. He said, during UPA rule barely 13 lakh houses received sanction, of which only 8 lakh were constructed. “But since 2014, more than 1.13crore houses have been constructed for the poor. One can see the difference,” he observed.
The PM also slammed the previous government for not framing a concrete housing policy for the poor, while constructing pigeonhole units of 15 sqmt for them. He said his government kept a benchmark of 22 sqmt as minimum size of a housing unit under PMAY. “Moreover, our government ensured transparency while transferring grants directly to bank accounts of beneficiaries,” said the PM.
Modi also accused the Akhilesh Yadav government of indulging in “politics over urban planning” and creating obstacles to the flagship scheme. He said funds were provided by the Centre, but the government in power before 2017, sanctioned only 18,000 houses under PMAY and did not construct even 18. “Even power supply was turned into a political tool for benefit of a few and construction of roads was a matter of “sifarish” (recommendation),” he said.
In contrast, Modi said, the Yogi Adityanath government provided 9 lakh units in cities and another 14 lakh are under-construction. “People will have to consider the change after 2017 in Uttar Pradesh,” Modi said, in his public outreach ahead of polls.. The PM further stressed his government took up the cause of urban middle class by bringing laws like Real Estate Regulatory Act to end corruption.
