By Our Correspondent/PIB
NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi released financial assistance to over 6 lakh beneficiaries in UP under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin through video conference on Wednesday. He interacted with the beneficiaries. Union Rural Development Minister, Governor of Uttar Pradesh and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh were present on the occasion.
The Prime Minister wished the beneficiaries and extended greetings on the occasion of Prakash Purab. Modi bowed to Guru Gobind Singh ji on his Prakash Purab. He greeted the nation on this auspicious occasion. He said that he feels that Guru Sahib has been very kind to him and given him ample opportunity to serve him. Guru Saheb’s life and message inspires us to take on the challenges while following the path of service and truth. This level of strength and courage emanates from the spirit of service and truth, and the country is moving on this path, shown by Guru Gobind Singh Ji, said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister said that unprecedented work is being done to change the lives of the poor, deprived and exploited. He recalled that he launched the PM Awaas Yojna from Agra five years ago. This scheme has started changing the face of Indian villages. This scheme is linked with the hopes of millions and has given the poorest of poor the confidence that she can be a homeowner.
The Prime Minister expressed happiness that Uttar Pradesh is among the states that are moving the fastest on building houses for the poor. He informed that today, 6 lakh families of the state will get a total of more than Rs 2600 crores in their bank account. Out of these 6 lakh families, 5 lakh will get the first installment which means that, for 5 lakh families, their life’s wait is over. Similarly, 80 thousand families got their second installment which means that by next winter they will have their own house,said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister asserted that Aatmnirbhar Bharat is directly linked to the self-confidence of the country’s citizens and a house of one’s own enhances this self-confidence manifold. A self-owned house brings assurance in life and also the hope of coming out of poverty.
The Prime Minister recalled that during the time of previous governments, the poor did not have the confidence that the government could be of any help in getting their house constructed. He also said that the quality of the houses made in the earlier scheme was also not up to the mark. The poor had to face the brunt of wrong policies, said the Prime Minister.
Keeping in Mind this plight, PM Awas Yojna was started with an aim to provide every poor family a house before completion of 75 years of independence. 2 crore housing units have been constructed in rural areas during recent years, PM Awas Yojna has accounted for 1.25 crore units with central government’s contribution being about 1.5 lakh crore rupees. The Prime Minister also recalled the lack of response from the previous governments in the state. He informed that in Uttar Pradesh 22 lakh Garmin Awas are to be constructed out of which 21.5 lakh have been approved for construction. 14.5 lakh families have already got their house mostly, under the present government.
The Prime Minister said that, keeping in mind the bad experience of past, few things have been kept in mind such as those poor families who have lost hope of owning a house should be given priority, second, transparency in allocation, third, ownership to be vested preferably with women, fourth, monitoring via technology and finally a house equipped with all the basic amenities. The housing units are benefiting poor families who were living in kachcha houses, local workers, small farmers and landless labourers with no hope of owning a house. Shri Modi underlined the aspect of women empowerment in the scheme as these units are mostly in the name of women of the family. Landless families are getting the documents of the land and all the money is being transferred directly in the account of the beneficiary to prevent any corruption.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the effort is to reduce the gap between amenities of rural and urban areas and aim is to make life for rural people as easy as urban population. Therefore, basic amenities such as Toilet, Lighting, Water and Gas connection are also added to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The objective is that a poor person should not have to run around for basic facilities.
The Prime Minister remarked that PM Swamitva Yojana would be a game changer in improving the lives of the villagers. And UP is one of the pioneer states where it has been implemented. Under this scheme, the villagers will get their land along with ownership papers of the house. Drones are being used for surveys in thousands of villages in UP, mapping is being done so that people’s property remains registered with the government and land disputes come to an end. He said the biggest benefit of this scheme will be that villagers will be able to take loans from the bank by mortgaging these houses. This will have a positive impact on the prices of the rural property. This work is over in 8.5 thousand villages of the state and people are getting digital certificates after the survey, locally called ‘Gharoni’. More than 51 thousand such certificates have already been distributed in Uttar Pradesh, informed the Prime Minister
The Prime Minister said when so many schemes are reaching villages, not only are the facilities increasing, but also the rural economy is gaining momentum. He said roads built under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana are making the life of the people of the village easy. He said work is going on to provide fast internet access to more than 6 lakh villages through Optical fibers. This project would also create new employment opportunities for the villagers. He said UP is ranked first in the country by generating 10 crore mandays of employment through Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan to support the migrant laborers who returned during Corona period.
He said this has improved the ease of living of the villagers. He listed various initiatives to improve the ease of living like Ayushman Bharat Scheme, National Nutrition Mission, UJALA scheme which has given UP a new identity. He listed the infrastructure projects like expressway and projects like AIIMS commissioned in UP and said it would help in accelerating the pace of development in UP. He cited this as the reason why many big companies are coming to invest in UP today. He said avenues are also open for small companies through ‘One District One Product’ where local artisans are getting benefitted.
