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Lucknow, Jan. 20 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lashed out at previous governments, saying the poor had to bear the brunt of their "wrong" policies and intentions.
He said the poor people never believed in the past that the government will help them get a roof over their heads.
"Their (previous governments') policies were wrong and the poor had to bear the brunt of their wrong intentions," he said while releasing financial assistance of INR 2,691 crore to 6.1 lakh beneficiaries in Uttar Pradesh under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
The prime minister specifically criticised the state's previous Samajwadi Party government for its alleged failure to take advantage of the Prime Minister Awas Yojna (Gramin) after its launch in 2016.
"When we brought the PMAY-G in 2016, the government here, which you all removed, despite our repeated requests did not provide the names of beneficiaries, said Prime Minister Modi.
We were ready to provide funds but all requests, letters in this regard were ignored. This behaviour of the government of that time has not been forgotten by the poor, he added, in his 30-minute speech through video conferencing.
The poor did not believe that the government could help them in constructing houses. What kind of houses were made by earlier governments is known to all. It was because of the wrong policies. But it was the poor who had to bear the brunt in the name of destiny, the prime minister said.
Modi also praised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the all-round development in the state and speedy implementation of central schemes.
In the past four years, the manner in which the Central government schemes have been implemented and provided momentum has given a new identity to the state," the prime minister said.
On one hand there is strictness with criminals and rioters and control on the law and order situation and, on the other, work on expressways and institutes like the AIIMS is on, expediting the speed of development, he said, adding big companies are coming to the state even while the doors are open for small industry.
Hailing the One-District-One-Product scheme of the UP government for making local workers self-reliant, the PM said it would pave the way for achieving the target of 'atmanirbhar Bharat.'
He also praised the efforts of the UP government during the difficult coronavirus times as well as its works for the migrants returning home.
The prime minister earlier pressed the remote button to release the assistance and interacted with some beneficiaries.
Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Adityanath were present on the occasion.
The assistance includes the release of the first instalment to 5.30 lakh beneficiaries and the second instalment to 80,000 beneficiaries who have already availed of the first instalment of assistance under the PMAY-G.
Modi had given a call of Housing for All by 2022, for which a flagship programme of PMAY-G was launched on November 20, 2016.
So far 1.26 crore houses have already been built across the country under the scheme, an official release said.
Under PMAY-G, each beneficiary is given 100 per cent grant of INR 1.20 lakh (in plains) and INR 1.30 lakh (in hill states/NE region/difficult areas/JK & Ladakh besides Naxal-hit districts besides areas falling under the Integrated Action Plan IAP).
Stressing that his government aims at extending basic facilities in the rural areas through this scheme to bridge the gap between villages and cities, the PM also referred to the housing schemes of the earlier governments, especially in UP.
He also praised the efforts of the UP government during the difficult corona times as well as its works for the migrants returning home.
On the occasion, he interacted with one beneficiary each from Kheri, Chitrakoot, Varanasi, Ayodhya and Saharanpur districts and said the scheme has helped people believe that they will be able to have a house of their own.
Saying that the history of housing schemes is very old in the country, the PM said earlier also there was a need for cheap housing for the poor but the experience of the poor had been very bad.
So when the Centre was working on this schemes, we paid special attention to ridding those wrongs and reached those people in the villages first who had lost all hope of having their own houses, he said.
The prime minister said the effort of the country today is that the gap between villages and towns, as per the basic facilities, is bridged and life in the rural area is as easy as in cities for which the scheme is being linked to the basic facilities like toilet, power and water supply.
Referring to the 'Prime Minister Swamitva Yojna', he said it would change the life of the poor in villages.
In thousands of villages of UP, survey and mapping is on so that the property is registered in the names of its owners in government records. This will also end the disputes over property and people will be able to take bank loan by showing papers. This will also have a good effect on the rates of property, he said.
He said government schemes are reaching villages and also giving momentum to the rural economy.
Another campaign has been started some months ago to facilitate high-speed internet in villages under which optical fibre will be laid in over six lakh villages. This will provide new employment opportunities to the rural people.