Central government aims to make Delhi a grand city with all amenities: PM

New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) The aim of the Central government is to turn Delhi into a grand city complete with all amenities in accordance with its status as the capital of the country, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

PM inaugurated 3,024 newly constructed EWS flats at Kalkaji area, built for rehabilitating slum dwellers under the 'In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Project' and handed over keys to eligible beneficiaries at Bhoomiheen Camp in a programme at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister informed that more than 3,000 homes have already been prepared in the first phase of Kalkaji Extension alone. Very soon, other families living in the area will get the opportunity to enter their new homes. "I am sure that these efforts of the Central government will play a big role in making Delhi an ideal city", he said.

"Our government is leaving no stone unturned to fulfil the aspirations of citizens in Delhi. The aim of the Central government is to turn Delhi into a grand city complete with all amenities in accordance with its status as the capital of the country," the PM said. Referring to his talk of 'aspirational society' from the ramparts of Red Fort, the Prime Minister said that Delhi's poor and middle class are both aspirational and talented.

Speaking on the topic of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, the Prime Minister acknowledged the constant worry of the people about the status of their houses. "The Central government has also done the work of reducing this concern of the people of Delhi. Work is going on to regularise the houses built in unauthorised colonies of Delhi through the PM-UDAY scheme. Till now thousands of people have taken advantage of this scheme", he said. He also mentioned that 700 crore rupees have been spent in providing interest subsidies to poor and middle-class families for constructing their own houses.

The Prime Minister pointed out that for decades, the system of governance in the country was plagued with the mentality that poverty is poor people's issue but the government of today belongs to the poor and it is not in its nature to leave them be. He highlighted that the poor remain Central to policy formation and decision-making systems and that the government is treating the issues of the urban poor with equal importance.

The Prime Minister said that there were 50 lakh people in Delhi, who did not even have a bank account. That deprived them of any benefit of the banking system. "They were in Delhi but Delhi was very far from them," he said. This situation was changed by the government and a campaign for financial inclusion via opening accounts. This resulted in direct benefits to the poor people of Delhi, including street vendors.

Emphasising the development in the Delhi NCR region, the Prime Minister informed about the expansion of metro routes from 190 km to 400 km after 2014. He further noted that in the last 8 years, 135 new metro stations have been added to the network which ended up saving time and money. He also informed that the Government of India with an investment of Rs 50,000 crores is widening roads to provide relief to Delhi from traffic congestion. The Prime Minister gave examples of Dwarka Expressway, Urban Extension Road, Akshardham to Baghpat 6-lane Access Control Highway and elevated corridor in the form of Gurugram-Sohna Road.

The Prime Minister informed that services like Rapid Rail for Delhi NCR are going to begin in the near future. He noted the grand construction of the New Delhi Railway Station that is going to take place and expressed delight at the construction of Bharat Vandana Park on 80 hectares of land in Dwarka which is now moving towards completion in the next few months. "I am told that over 700 big parks in Delhi are maintained by the DDA. Various parks are being developed by DDA on the 22 km stretch between Wazirabad barrage to Okhla barrage", he informed.