New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hands over the symbolic key to slum-dwellers of Bhoomiheen Camp, eligible to receive the newly-constructed EWS flats as part of the 'In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation' project, during a ceremony to inaugurate the flats and hand over the keys to the beneficiaries, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. (PTI Photo/Shahbaz Khan)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Centre’s aim was to make Delhi a “grand city” in keeping with its status as Capital, but at the same time holistic development would be incomplete without addressing the inequality within the city.
Speaking at the inauguration of 3,024 flats built by the Delhi Development Authority for the economically-weaker section (EWS) at Kalkaji in South Delhi, Modi said the poor contributed to the development of the city, but had been made to live in deplorable conditions for decades. Handing over keys to a few of the beneficiaries of the in-situ slum rehabilitation project, the Prime Minister noted the joy on their faces.
Our government is leaving no stone unturned to fulfil aspirations of citizens in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/RaeULy9AGf
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“When there is such an imbalance in one single city, can we think of holistic development? In the Azadi ka Amrit Kaal, we have to fill this huge gap,” he said.
The Prime Minister listed out the number of beneficiaries in Delhi of various Central welfare schemes, from 50 lakh people who did not have bank accounts before the Jan Dhan Yojana to those who availed of the free ration scheme in the past two years at an expenditure of Rs.2,500 crore. He said the Metro network in the National Capital Region had increased from 190km in 2014 to 400km now. He said services like the regional rapid rail would be started very soon.
“For all the things I listed, you tell me what I should have spent on advertisements…We live to bring change in your lives,” Modi said, in an apparent reference to Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party government that has been attacked by the BJP for its ad spending.
Addressing the beneficiaries who were present at the ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan, the Prime Minister asked them to use only LED bulbs, to prevent wastage of water and keep their neighbourhood clean.
A total of 3,024 flats spread over four blocks of 14 floors each had been constructed near the Bhoomiheen Camp at a cost of Rs.345 crore, according to a DDA statement. Out of these, demand-cum-allotment letters had been issued to 1,862 eligible families. Of those, 575 beneficiaries had completed all formalities, including a fee of Rs.1.42 lakh, and were being handed over the keys to their new homes. After the residents move into their flats, the Bhoomiheen Camp would be “vacated” to make way for flats for residents of the nearby Jawahar Camp and Navjeevan Camp, DDA said.