Gandhinagar, June 28 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had transformed the lives of 70 crore poor people over the past 12 years by providing housing, electricity, sanitation, drinking water, cooking gas, food security and healthcare, describing the effort as the country’s most comprehensive poverty alleviation programme.

Addressing a gathering after launching the PM Family Care Tracker (PM-FCT) pilot project and Health Passports in Gandhinagar, HM Shah said improving the standard of living of the poor had been a central focus of the government since 2014.

“Under the leadership of PM Modi, a comprehensive effort has been made to improve the standard of living of 70 crore poor people in this country,” he said.

Recalling his visits to eastern Uttar Pradesh before 2014, HM Shah said he had witnessed extreme poverty first-hand.

“It is not that there is no poverty in Gujarat. But when I travelled to the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, I experienced what extreme poverty truly means. People had no homes. If there were no home, there could be no electricity. There were countless houses without toilets. Even where there was a hut, there was no water supply inside,” he said.

He said women spent hours cooking on traditional stoves while access to healthcare remained beyond the reach of many families.

“Mothers spent their lives blowing traditional cooking stoves. They worked for 24 hours just to arrange the next day’s meal. Such was the economic condition that, in the name of medical treatment, there was no option except praying to God,” he recalled.

According to HM Shah, the government had addressed these challenges through multiple welfare schemes.

“Within just 12 years, these 70 crore poor people have been provided with houses, electricity, tap water, toilets, gas cylinders, five kilograms of food grains, free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh,” he said.

He added that 3 crore houses had already been completed, while 1 crore more were under construction.

HM Shah said many beneficiaries had told him that theirs was the first generation to live in homes equipped with basic amenities.

“I have heard many beneficiaries say that after witnessing five generations in their family, this is the first time they have entered a home that has gas, a toilet, drinking water, food grains, and electricity. The dream of five generations has been fulfilled within 12 years,” he noted.

HM Shah added that the PM Family Care Tracker represented the next stage of welfare delivery by ensuring that children from poor families received timely healthcare, nutrition and education services through integrated monitoring.

–IANS

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