Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday dedicated to the nation more than one lakh houses completed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban across Maharashtra and at a Solapur housing society.

He said his government, inspired by Ram Rajya, has all through tried to provide honest governance which takes care of all.

Addressing a large gathering of beneficiaries on the occasion, he said when he took office in 2014, he had declared “my government is dedicated to the poor,” and thereafter, it took decisions, one after another, aimed at reducing difficulties of the poor and to make their lives easy.

The prime minister said he had gone round the society, and was happy that dreams of thousands of poor and working population of Solapur were realised today. As a child, he too wished if he had lived in such a house.

Modi got emotional and said the happiness of people on such achievements was his biggest treasure.

He said he had started his 11-day regimen of fasts and regulated life at Nashik in the state, in preparation to the consecration of Ram Lalla idol at the Ayodhya temple on January 22, and was happy that one lakh families of Maharashtra will be able to light Ram Jyotis in their new homes on the evening of 22 January itself.

“Ram had taught people that they must keep their word and promises, and he was happy that a decision to benefit thousands of people of Solapur had been successfully implemented,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he had laid foundation stones of seven AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) projects worth around Rs 2,000 crore for different cities of Maharashtra. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had paid compliments to him for this, but the reality was the projects were the result of efforts of people and the development-oriented government of the state, Modi said.

The Prime Minister said people had suffered indignities without houses or toilets. This led to his Government’s attention on these issues and 10 crores ‘Izzat Ghar’ and four crore pucca houses have been provided in a mission mode.

Instead of misguiding people, the path of the government is ‘dignity of labour’, ‘self-reliant worker’ and “welfare of the poor,” he said. The Prime Minister told people “You can dream big. Your dreams will be goals of my efforts. He mentioned affordable urban houses and fair-rent societies for migrant labourers and said “We are making efforts to provide residences near to the place of work,” he said.

The Prime Minister said there were poverty alleviation programmes earlier also but they failed due to the absence of honest intent and pilferage by middlemen. Due to clean intentions, policies favouring the empowerment of the poor and commitment to the nation, the Prime Minister said “Modi has given the guarantee of taking the benefit of the government schemes directly to the beneficiaries.”

He said in the last 10 years, more than Rs 30 lakh crore have been transferred directly to the accounts of women, farmers, youth and the poor.” As many as 10 crore fake beneficiaries were weeded out using JAM trinity of Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile.

Highlighting the efforts of the government to prioritize the welfare of the poor by initiating multiple schemes, the Prime Minister said 25 crore people in the country have come out of poverty in the last nine years. This, the Prime Minister said, is a result of the hard work of 10 years and true dedication towards the poor. He said that it also empowers and inspires others to defeat poverty.

The Prime Minister reiterated the belief that the poor can overcome poverty if resources and facilities are provided to them. Therefore, the present government has provided resources and facilities and made honest efforts toward their welfare. He said the scheme for free rations to the poor has been extended for another five years.