NDA govt spent six times higher on urban schemes in 5 years than UPA did in 10 years: Puri

Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Friday said the NDA government had spent six times higher on urban schemes in five years compared to the amount UPA dispensation spent in its 10 years. Talking to reporters after taking charge of the ministry for a second time, Puri said that so far, over 80 lakh houses under PMAY (Urban) have been sanctioned while the remaining 20 lakh will be approved in this financial year.

The diplomat-turned-politician is one of the biggest gainers as despite being defeated by Congress candidate Gurjit Aujla from Amritsar, he has not only retained the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry but also has been given the ministries of civil aviation and commerce and industry ministries. The UD ministry is taking care of several flagship programmes of the Modi government, including Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-U), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) among others.

"In the UPA government's regime from 2004 to 2014, the expenditure on urban schemes was around Rs 1.57 lakh crore while it was over Rs 9.07 lakh crore on urban schemes from 2015 to 2019 during the NDA's government," he said. Puri said there are several schemes for the urban sector including PMAY (U), SBM (U), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) among others.

This is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi through flagship programmes has been able to do for the urban sector and that is work in progress, he said. Talking about PMAY (U), Puri said that under this scheme, one crore houses are set to be constructed.

Over 80 lakh houses have been sanctioned while the remaining will be approved in this financial year,' Puri said.

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