The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, today remotely inaugurated urban development projects at various locations across the State. These include houses under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, urban drinking water supply schemes, urban solid waste management, urban sanitation, urban transportation and urban landscape projects.At an event in Indore, he also distributed the Swachh Survekshan-2018 Awards, and launched the Swachh Survekshan-2018 results dashboard.Addressing a large gathering on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that Swachh Bharat was Mahatma Gandhi’s dream which has now become the resolve of 125 crore Indians. He said the entire country can take inspiration from Indore, which has been awarded for being the cleanest city in India. He also appreciated the three best performing States in cleanliness – Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. He spoke about the progress being made in sanitation. He expressed confidence Mahatma Gandhi’s dream will become a reality by his 150th birth anniversary next year.
The Prime Minister spoke about how the Union Government is working towards modernizing urban infrastructure in India. In addition to the Swachh Bharat Mission, he mentioned the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Urban), the Smart City Mission, AMRUT, and Deendayal Upadhyay National Urban Livelihood Mission. He recalled that he had inaugurated the Integrated Command and Control Centre in Naya Raipur – India’s first smart city – a few days ago. He said a similar exercise is now underway in seven cities of Madhya Pradesh. He spoke in detail about the progress being made in various urban development initiatives in Madhya Pradesh. He said that through the housing projects inaugurated today, more than one lakh homeless people in Madhya Pradesh have got their own house.He said the Government of India is working towards the vision of providing housing for all by 2022. He said that in the last four years, approximately 1.15 crore houses have been constructed, and nearly 2 crore more houses are to be constructed, to achieve the goal by 2022. He said that the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana is also becoming a means for generating employment and women empowerment.The Prime Minister also spoke of progress made in other spheres of development.