Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated “Azadi@75 -New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape’ conference-cum-expo on Tuesday. The expo held in Lucknow also saw 75,000 beneficiaries being digitally handed over the keys of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana– Urban (PMAY-U) houses by the Prime Minister.
Addressing the event, PM Modi stated that under the PM Awas Yojana, women had been given property rights instead of the husband or sons in order for “balance in a healthy society.”
The Prime Minister said, “Under this central scheme, over 80% of the houses are either owned by women or they are joint owners of these houses. After 2014, our government has given the permission to build over 1.13 crore houses under PM Awas Yojana, in the city. Of these, over 50 lakh houses have been built & given to the poor so far.”
“Under PM Awas Yojana, the Central government has transferred nearly Rs 1 lakh crore in the accounts of the poor. 3 crore families, who were living in slum areas and didn’t have pucca houses, got an opportunity to become ‘lakhpati’ with a single scheme. It is a big thing…. These people are ‘lakhpati’ now,” he added.
He attacked the previous Uttar Pradesh government by saying that it did not want to construct houses for poor people.
He added that before 2014, there was no policy to determine the size of the house, some were 15-sq mt, while others 17-sq mt. “Our government decided that no house will be constructed in less than 22 sq mt area. We increased the land size and also started transferring money directly to beneficiaries’ accounts,” PM Modi said.
The prime minister also gave a “task” to the nine lakh beneficiaries of the PMAY in UP, asking them to light two diyas on Diwali.
