UP tops in construction of houses for rural poor: Min

LUCKNOW : Minister of state for rural development Mahendra Singh on Sunday said Uttar Pradesh was on top of the list of states in providing houses to rural poor under the Prime Minister Housing Scheme. “A total of 7,71,073 houses have been constructed till March 31. The state has achieved 85 per cent target in constructing houses under the scheme whereas the national average is 34 per cent,” Singh told media persons here.

LUCKNOW: Minister of state for rural development Mahendra Singh on Sunday said Uttar Pradesh was on top of the list of states in providing houses to rural poor under the Prime Minister Housing Scheme.

“A total of 7,71,073 houses have been constructed till March 31. The state has achieved 85 per cent target in constructing houses under the scheme whereas the national average is 34 per cent,” Singh told media persons here.

He said under the previous government, Uttar Pradesh ranked 29 in the scheme and jumped to first position within one year of the BJP government.

Terming it to be a major achievement for the Yogi Adityanath government, Singh said the target of constructing houses for rural poor was completed within nine months.

“Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which stood at second and third positions, were way behind UP with 47 per cent and 45 per cent of the target,” he said.

Singh said to give thrust to the project, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had held a meeting with the chief development officers of all the districts on October 11 last year.

“The plan of constructing houses was amended from 12 months to 9 months. A training programme was organised for the officers associated with the project,” he said. He said the central government also lauded UP for the achievement.

The housing scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Agra in November 2016.

Lashing out at the previous Samajwadi Party government, Singh said the state government was asked to complete the consolidated target of financial year 2016-17 and 2017-18 during the last fiscal.

“No work was done under the SP government. After the BJP government came to power in March last year, work on the Prime Minister rural housing scheme gained momentum. The government has spent Rs 10,000 crore under the scheme,” he said.

He said the Chief Minister’s Housing Scheme had been launched to provide shelter to the people had lost their houses in natural calamities.

“A separate scheme, CM Integrated Village Development Scheme, was launched in the villages of soldiers who laid down their lives for the country. These villages will be developed under the scheme,” he said.

The minister said the rural development department had also completed construction of 7,000 anganbadi centres and added that 3,684 km road had been constructed in UP under the Prime Minister Rural Road Scheme.

“The department has set the target of 3,000 km road in the new financial year,” he said.

Singh said drinking water project had been launched in districts where outbreak of Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) was reported.