PM reiterates housing for all by 2022

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, September 23

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reiterated the Union Government’s resolve of housing for all by 2022 when India completes 75 year of its Independence.

At a public meeting in Shahanshahpur adjoining Varanasi on the concluding day of his two-day visit to his constituency, he said ensuring development reaching the last person in queue was his priority. “Providing a roof to every family either in the rural or urban area is a huge responsibility. But if Modi will not take up this challenge, who would?” he said. 

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Blaming the previous Samajwadi Party government for “not being interested” in building houses for the poor, PM Modi said after much persuasion by the Centre, the state had submitted a list of 10,000 people who were to be provided housing.

“Within a short time, Yogi ji has registered several lakhs for the housing scheme,” said the PM, who also projected the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana as an employment generation venture. He said the number of houses to be built for the poor equalled the number of houses of a medium-sized European nation. 

“Imagine the amount of cement, bricks, wood, steel and other building material required to build the houses. Arranging for this and building the houses will provide employment to a large number of people,” he claimed.

The doubling of the farmers’ income was another pledge that PM Modi took for 2022. In this context, he praised CM Yogi’s Pashudhan Arogya Mela (livestock health fair) which he had earlier inaugurated. “Raising productivity of milch cattle and ensuring their health through such melas will go a long way to help the farmer double his income through dairy farming,” he said.