New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday released financial aid of Rs 2,691 crore to 6.10 lakh beneficiaries in Uttar Pradesh under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
The Prime Minister released the amount through video-conferencing during an event attended by Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The assistance would include first instalment to 5.30 lakh beneficiaries and second instalment to 80,000 others who have already availed of the first instalment under the PMAY-G.
After releasing the financial assistance, the Prime Minister said the scheme is going to change the fortune of people residing in villages in the coming days.
Launching a scathing attack on the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh before the incumbent Yogi Adityanath's reign, the Prime Minister said the previous SP government had rejected the central government's request when the scheme was launched in 2016 and it led to major difficulties in implementing the scheme in the state.
"Work is being done for the welfare of poor and destitute. Five years ago, I started PMAY from Agra. This scheme has created confidence among poor that they will get their own houses. UP is among those states where PMAY houses are being created," the Prime Minister said.
"There were faults of wrong policies implemented by the previous governments and poor have to face problems. We had set a target to provide a house to every household in 2016 and decided to complete the target in 2022 when the country will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Independence."
Modi said the PMAY-G was launched in 2016 but the scheme faced a lot of problems due to previous government's attitude. "It is the hard work of Yogiji's government that the whole system has changed and lakhs of people have got pucca houses."
Over five lakh families in Uttar Pradesh today have got their first instalment for constructing their own houses under the scheme, the Prime Minister said.
Noting that a house is a place which enhances confidence of people, the Prime Minister reiterated that the central government's focus is 'Housing for All by 2022', for which the Centre's flagship programme PMAY-G was launched on November 20, 2016.
So far, 1.26 crore houses have been built across the country under the scheme. Under PMAY-G, each beneficiary is given 100 per cent grant of Rs 1.20 lakh (in plain areas) and Rs 1.30 lakh (in hilly states/north-eastern states/difficult areas/UTs of J&K and Ladakh/IAP/LWE districts).
The PMAY-G beneficiaries are also provided support of unskilled labour wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Scheme and assistance of Rs 12,000 for the construction of toilets through Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G), MGNREGA or any other dedicated source of funding.
The scheme has provisions for convergence with other schemes of the Centre and states/UTs for providing LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme, electricity connections, and access to safe drinking water under Jal Jeevan Mission.
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