New Delhi [India], July 2 : Union Minister Piyush Goyal turned emotional as he narrated an anecdote of him sipping "the most delicious tea of his life" at a two-room house of a beneficiary of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) at a tribal-dominated village in Rajasthan.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, the Union Minister opened up about his recent visit to the Kathwadi gram panchayat area, which, he said, is about an hour's drive from Jaipur.
He informed further that as many as 19 lakh rural families in Rajasthan, which comes to about 1 crore people, had homes built free of cost under the Centre's flagship PMAY-G scheme.
Recalling his visit to a family, which shifted to a pucca house from a tin shed that barely had enough space to accommodate a household of 11 members, including 8 girls and a divyang (differently abled) father, the Union Minister said, "I was walking around the village and visited an Adivasi (tribal) home. The lady met me there with her children and then her husband also came after some time. The lady is a labourer and her husband is a divyang, differently abled. The woman has 8 girls, the eldest of whom recently completed her MEd from scholarship funds, which the government sent directly to her bank account. She had a new PMAY home for which she didn't have to pay a penny."
"They welcomed me into the house of two rooms, equipped with a toilet, and made me sit on a bed. I took off my shoes before going inside. As I entered the house, I saw an LPG (cooking) cylinder with a pot mounted on top. She was brewing tea for us. It was the tastiest and the most delicious tea I ever had in my life," the Union minister said in a voice choking with emotion.
He said it was one of 144 families in that particular panchayat area to have free homes built under the Centre's rural housing scheme.
Asserting that the basic needs of people in the country's remotest corners were being taken care of by the central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Minister said about 4 crore homes are being built across the country under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
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