Over 18 lakh rural houses build during Covid-19 pandemic period: PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that a total of 18 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) have been built during Covid-19 pandemic.

He was speaking during the virtual housewarming ceremony of 1.75 lakh houses built in rural parts of Madhya Pradesh under the PMAY-Gramin scheme.

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The PM also said that the average time of building a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-Gramin) reduced to 45 to 60 days during the pandemic from 125 days as migrants who returned home during the lockdown, also contributed towards it.

Further, PM said that under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan Rs 23,000 crore have been spent on infrastructure and other works which helped the rural economy.

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Criticising the previous government for failing to build houses to the poor , he said, "Construction of houses under the community development programmes began post-Independence. But the target of providing houses to the poor could not be achieved."

Earlier, everything related to houses for the poor was centralised in Delhi and the beneficiaries were nowhere involved in the process, Modi said adding that now everything was transparent and beneficiary involvement was more in the scheme.

The PM alleged that in the past, the quality of houses used to be poor and they lacked basic amenities, which is why people did not move into them.