Lucknow: Crediting former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the development of Lucknow, PM Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the visionary BJP leader had made the Uttar Pradesh capital the ‘laboratory of urbanisation’.
“Lucknow has been the ‘karmbhoomi’ of Atal Ji. Our government is only working towards realising the futuristic plans of the legendary BJP leader. He had made Lucknow the laboratory of urbanisation and we are only taking this vision forward,” he said speaking at the third anniversary celebration programme of ‘Smart City’, AMRUT project and Prime Minister Awas Yojana.
PM Modi began his address by congratulating UP Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Hardeep Puri for the achievements of the missions.
He welcomed all the attendees saying, “I am a parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh and want to welcome all of you as a representative of the state.”
“I want to congratulate each and everyone present here for contributing enormously towards the development of the country,” said Modi, adding, “After watching the exhibition here I came across many projects running in the country.”
Lauding the PM Awas Yojana, Modi said, “We handed over the keys of houses to many of our sisters, which gives a great satisfaction to us. I want to congratulate every beneficiary of the government scheme.”
What else PM Modi said?
- You must have marked that among all the award recipients, only two were men.
- I salute the vitality of these award winners.
- We have inaugurated many projects for the welfare of the people.
- The government is actively working on over 52,000 projects.
- The mission of these schemes is improving the lifestyle of every Indian irrespective of their cast and religion.
- Currently, 11 cities have integrated command centers and we are aiming to open such centers in 50 cities in next few months.
- CCTV has helped in maintaining cleanliness.
- Due to free wi-fi service in buses in Ahmedabad, the number of daily passengers has seen a huge rise.
- We have installed ‘call bell’ at 125 locations in Pune. Police immediately responds to these call bells.
- We have pledged towards transforming urballandscape.
- Weare only working on the vision of Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji.
- We are giving houses under PM Awas Yojana in the names of our mothers and sisters.
- We have already allotted 87 lakh houses under this scheme.
- Before BJP took power in UP, we had to call the previous UP government telling them to work for welfare of people and all necessary finance will be provided.
- But no heed was paid to our consistent requests.
- They were only busy in beautifying their own bungalows and never thought about poor.
He also slammed the Opposition for blaming him of being indulged in corruption. “I was blamed of being a ‘bhagidaar’ and not a ‘sewak’. I accept this blame as a reward.”
“Yes, I am a bhagidaar, I am a bhagidaar in the pain of a farmer whose corp was destroyed. I am a bhagidaar in the struggle of those soldiers who are protecting our borders in intense cold in Siachen,” he added.
- I try to ensure that every poor gets a home to live, proper treatment on getting ill, clean drinkable water and job opportunity.
- I want to make a person wearing slippers travel through aeroplane.
- I have learnt how to survive in extreme poorness.
- There are some people who had been saying how can a chaiwala become the Prime Minister.
- But it is the 1.25 crore people of the country who have given me the opportunity to serve them.
- If the enough planning and executing was done when India got freedom and the responsibility of building the nation was on the shoulders of the government, the things could have been a lot better today.
- At that time, there was no pressure of population as well.
- The governments only established concrete jungles without any planning.
- The country is currently developing at 7.5 per cent and the speed will only rise in the coming years.
- We are working towards ending the problems like dirty water, traffic jams and many such problems.
- Hence, we have set a target of establishing 100 smart cities.
- We are working on a mission to transform the nation.
Prime Minister also felicitated the individuals who have contributed towards the government schemes.
Speaking at the third anniversary of ‘Smart City’, AMRUT programme and Prime Minister Awas Yojna, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that these schemes have brought happiness among people and have put the country on a ‘quick development’ path.
“The PM Awas Yojna was announced on June 25, 2015 and since then has benefited a lot of people. PM Modi himself talked to the beneficiaries of the scheme and saw that they are very happy now,” he said.
Speaking over the ‘Smart City’ and AMRUT programmes, Rajnath Singh said, “We dreamt about these schemes in January 2014, and now people are also confident that these dreams will turn into reality soon.”
He also said that the BJP government has opened the stock exchange for urban development and has allowed the ‘start-ups’ to take loan and contribute towards the development of the country.
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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also heaped praises over the government schemes saying, “All the programmes are working efficiently in urban areas of UP and people are getting benefitted by them.”
What else Yogi Adityanath said?
- The most number of urban bodies in the country are in Uttar Pradesh (653).
- We are working sleeplessly for the development of each and every one of them.
- The AMRUT scheme, PM Awas Yojna and Smart City programme have contributed enormously in the development process.
- We have applied these schemes successfully in the past 16 months.
- During 2015-16, only 11,000 houses were made under PM Awas Yojna, but since taking power in the state, we have ensured over 4 lakh houses under the scheme.
- Under Swachh Bharat mission, we have constructed over 5 lakh toilets in the state.
- We are working towards making urban bodies independent.
- Ghaziabad and Lucknow are going to launch municipal bonds.
- Solid waste management has been a challenge.
- We have banned plastic below 50 micron and disposable plastic will also be banned by October 2.
- We are already running metro train in three cities and have plans to start metro in three more cities.
- Out of 9.65 lakh street lights, we have changed over 6.35 lakh with led lights which has saved electricity worth over Rs 115 crore within a year.
- We have already appointed Project Management Consultant in 10 cities chosen under the Smart City project and three phases of the development process have already completed.
- I want to thank the Prime Minister on occasion of third anniversary of these development schemes.
A short film over the three government projects was also shown at the grand event.
Union Minister of State with Independent Charge in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri said that the government was planning to make over 1 crore houses under the PM Awas Yojana by 2022.