No middlemen, every paisa from government reaches poor: Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Modi's remark was an apparent jibe at former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had famously said that only 15 paise of every rupee released by the Centre reaches beneficiaries.
Published: 23rd August 2018 02:47 PM | Last Updated: 24th August 2018 06:01 AM | A+A A-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File | PTI)
JUJWA (GUJARAT): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday tried to sell his dream of providing a home for every Indian family by 2022 to mark the 75th anniversary of Independence. He was addressing a gathering after a collective e-gruhapravesh (online house warming) event for beneficiaries of the rural housing scheme.
In an apparent jibe at former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had famously said that only 15 paise of every rupee released by the Centre reaches beneficiaries, Modi said, “If one rupee is released from Delhi, the entire 100 paise (now) reaches the house of the poor. People now do not have to pay bribes to avail benefits of the Centre’s flagship housing scheme.”
In 2008, recalling his dad’s famous one-liner on corruption, Rahul Gandhi had said not even five paise of a rupee released by the Centre during UPA-I was reaching its intended beneficiaries in Uttar Pradesh, which was then ruled by Mayawati’s BSP.
As part of the NDA government’s ‘Housing for All by 2022’ scheme, targets have been set to complete one crore new pucca houses in rural areas by March 2019 and 2.95 crore by 2022. The scheme aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all houseless families and those living in kutcha and dilapidated houses within four years.
“While talking to the women beneficiaries, I was watching the houses behind them. Even you would be wondering how such good quality houses were built under that scheme,” the prime minister said and added that ‘the mothers and sisters’ said they did not have to pay any bribe for getting their houses built.
Apart from the funds from the government, Modi said, the houses have been built by the ‘sweat of the family’. “The family decided how the house will be, what material will be used and how it will be made. We put our trust in them and not in contractors. When a family makes its own home, it makes it the best,” the prime minister said.
Own house for all families in four years
“It is my dream, it is our endeavour to ensure that every Indian family has its own home by 2022,” Modi said. Along with government assistance, the houses have been built with the “sweat of the family”, he pointed out
