- PM Modi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be featured on tiles of every house, built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
- One tile will be attached on the kitchen wall of the houses for the poor while the other will be attached at the entrance of the house
- The opposition in Maadhya Pradesh has alleged that a wrong precedent was being set by "politicizing" a scheme meant for the poor
- However, BJP has maintained that there is nothing wrong in featuring Modi and the CM on tiles.
The Madhya Pradesh government landed itself in a controversy after the urban administration and development department issued an order stating that the houses to be built in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) will have two tiles featuring prime minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
However, this direction has not gone down well with the opposition. It has alleged that a wrong precedent was being set by "politicizing" a scheme meant for the poor, said PTI.
As per the direction which was given April 4, every house will have two tiles with a photo of the PM and the CM, on the kitchen wall and the other at the entrance of the house, which is being built for the poor.
The UADD has also penned down a few specifications to the commissioners of municipal corporations and chief municipal officers of municipalities of Madhya Pradesh, stating that the two ceramic tiles should measure 450X600 mm each.
The tiles will carry the slogan 'Sabka Sapna, Ghar Ho Apana' in Hindi at the top, while the middle section of each tile will have 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban' written in English as well as Hindi, reported the news agency. The tiles will also carry the scheme's logo.
Modi will be featured on the left side of the logo, while Chouhan's picture will be printed on the right. The tiles will also carry a logo of the state government and a small picture of BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay.
Opposition condemns order while BJP defends it
This order has been criticized by the opposition.
"This is a government-run scheme meant for the poor and it should not be politicized. The ruling party is setting a wrong precedent by putting up the ceramic tiles with the pictures of Modi ji and Shivraj ji," Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Ajay Singh, told PTI.
On the other hand, the ruling saffron party has maintained that there was nothing wrong featuring Modi and the CM on tiles.
"There was no intention of politicizing any issue. This is for the first time in the country's history that a target has been set to provide a house to every poor. There is nothing wrong if the pictures of the PM and the CM are being put up at the entrance and inside the kitchen," said state BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal.
Even Additional Commissioner of Urban Administration Department, Manju Sharma justified the move and said that "through these tiles, the beneficiaries and other people will be able to know under which scheme the houses have been built".
