Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday announced a new housing scheme for the poor left out of other government schemes to ensure dwellings for all in the state and said a target has been set to double the per capita income by 2030.
Addressing a state-level Independence Day programme at the Lal Parade ground in Bhopal after hoisting the national flag, Chouhan said the size of Madhya Pradesh’s economy will be expanded to Rs 45 lakh crore by 2030 and efforts will be made to double the per capita income to Rs 2.80 lakh in the next seven years from Rs 1.40 lakh now.
“We have resolved that no poor should be without a roof over his head in the state. We have constructed 44 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (a central scheme). Besides, 22 lakhs more houses are to be constructed under Awas Plus,” he said.
Chouhan expressed his government’s commitment to provide pucca houses to all in the state, where assembly polls are due by the year-end.
“Several poor people come to me saying they have mud houses and also not having their name in Awas Plus. We have decided to launch (a new scheme) Mukhyamantri Jan Awas Yojana for those left in the Awas Plus scheme to provide free houses,” he said.
The CM announced that 25,000 posts of teachers will be filled soon in the poll-bound state. Chouhan noted that there was a time when Madhya Pradesh was among ‘BIMARU’ (laggard) states, but that was not longer the case now.
“There was (earlier) lack of basic amenities like roads, water and electricity. There is a huge difference between the situation at that time and now,” he said. In 2003, when the BJP came to power after ousting the Congress, dacoits held sway in northern Madhya Pradesh, the CM said, adding the government decided to eliminate them and did it within six months.
“Once Naxalites cut the throat of a minister (under the Congress government), but we have eliminated them, besides demolishing the network of SIMI (Students’ Islamic Movement of India) in the state,” he said.
Comparing the BJP’s governance record in the state to the previous Congress regime (1993-2003), Chouhan said the per capita income (amount of money earned by a person in an area in a year) has now shot up to Rs 1.40 lakh from Rs 12,000 earlier (in 2003).
Efforts will be made to double the per capita income by 2030, he said. Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chouhan said India is guiding the world under the PM’s leadership.
Chouhan said the state government is going to launch ‘Mukhyamatri Seekho-Kamao Yojana’ (learn and earn scheme) on August 22, under which youths will be given training in various skills and will be paid for it. Underlining the achievements of the BJP government, he said the budget size of Madhya Pradesh has grown to Rs 3.14 lakh crore (for 2023-24) from Rs 23,000 crore earlier.
Talking about his government’s vision for 2030, Chouhan said foreign-bound exports from Madhya Pradesh currently stand at Rs 7,000 crore and this will be increased up to Rs 1 lakh crore in the next seven years. By 2030, the size of Madhya Pradesh’s economy will be expanded up to Rs 45 lakh crore, said the chief minister.
Claiming that 1.30 crore people have come out of below poverty line in Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan asserted 1 crore more people will be brought out of the BPL category. He said wheat production in the state will be 10 metric tonnes by 2030 and the government’s target is to provide irrigation facility to 65 lakh hectares by that year.
Also, power generation will go up to 38,000 MW in the next seven years from 29,000 MW now, said the BJP leader. Chouhan said a commercial complex, ‘Unity Mall’, will be constructed in Ujjain at a cost of Rs 284 crore and it will be first-of-its-kind centre in the country.
Handicrafts and items procured under “one district one product” scheme will be sold in this mall, he said. Chouhan said a total of Rs 2.70 lakh crore has been transferred in bank accounts of famers during the past three years of the BJP government.
The CM highlighted various welfare schemes launched by the state government, including ‘Ladli Laxmi’ and ‘Ladli Behna’ (targeted at girls and women).
