Lucknow: Hitting out at the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday alleged that it had no interest in constructing houses for the poor and created hindrances in the implementation of the central
housing scheme.
He said before 2017, "18,000 houses were approved for Uttar Pradesh for construction under the Pradhan MantriAwasYojana but not even 18 houses were built by the previous government."
"There was money, there was sanction but those who were running the government were creating hindrance as they did not want to construct houses," the PM said.
On the other hand, the Yogi Adityanath government has "completed nine lakh houses under the scheme and 14 lakh are under construction," Modi said, reeling out comparative figures. Addressing "New Urban India Conclave", Modi said his government has made three crore poor families "lakhpati" under this scheme by providing them houses.
The prime minister stressed there was a massive increase in the number of houses constructed under PMAY in his regime. "More than 1.13 crore housing units have been approved in the cities and, out of these, more than 50 lakh houses have already been built and handed over to the poor," he said, adding before 2014 only 13 lakh houses were approved under the programme.
He emphasised that the government has made a very serious effort to overcome the problems and challenges of the urban middle class and the law establishing the Real Estate Regulatory Authority is a major step. "RERA has helped in getting the entire housing sector out of the mistrust and fraud and has helped and empowered all stakeholders," he said.
The PM said urban bodies are also saving about Rs 1,000 crore every year by installing LED street lights.
"Now this amount is being used for other development works. Use of LEDs has also greatly reduced the electricity bill of the people living in cities," he said.
The prime minister said in India in the last 6-7 years there has been a huge transformation in the urban sector due to technology. "Technology is the basis of the Integrated Command and Control Centres that are running in more than 70 cities of the country. Today, we will have to say 'Pahle App' - Technology First'," the PM said while mentioning the culture of Lucknow city.
Modi said under the PM SvanidhiYojana, street vendors are linked with banks and through it aid of more than Rs 2,500 crore has been given to more than 25 lakh beneficiaries. "More than 7 lakh beneficiaries of UP have taken advantage of SvanidhiYojana," he said, complimenting the vendors for promoting digital transactions. He said Metro service is rapidly expanding to major cities across the country.