Congress worked for one family: PM Modi

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused the previous Congress-led government of not being serious about poverty alleviation and working only to promote the ‘name of a particular family’.

Addressing an event at the famous temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district after offering prayers at the Saibaba temple, Mr Modi said that there was a need to defeat divisive forces for all-inclusive development.

Highlighting the difference between his and the previous governments, Mr Modi said “The previous (UPA) government built only 25 lakh houses for the poor in the last four years of its rule, while the present NDA government has created 1.25 crore houses in its four-year tenure.”

Mr Modi reiterated his government’s aim to ensure shelter for all the homeless by 2022, when India would celebrate 75 years of Independen-ce. He interacted with some beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) from different parts of the state through vide-o-conferencing and also symbolically han-ded over keys of houses to some. “In the last four years, the government has made serious efforts to provide proper houses to the poor. Efforts were made in the past too, but their sole objective was to promote the name of a particular family, inst-ead of empowering the poor,” he alleged.

Mr Modi said the previous government used to take 18 months to build a house, while the NDA government was doing it in less than 12 months. The government has also increased the sizes of the houses and the monetary assistance from Rs 70,000 to Rs 1.20 lakh for each house, he added.

Speaking about the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme (also known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana), Mr Modi said that one lakh people were benefited within a month of its launch. The average claim made by each beneficiary was rS 20,000, he added.

Observing that the state has reported deficient rainfall this year, Mr Modi assured that the Centre would provide assistance to the state.

Noting that the state had produced social reformers who propagated social harmony, Mr Modi called for a need to defeat divisive forces for all-inclusive development.