Meet the people handed keys to new flats by PM Modi

Speaking at the inauguration of the flats, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the poor contributed to the development of the city, but had been made to live in deplorable conditions for decades. He handed over keys to a few of the beneficiaries of the in-situ slum rehabilitation project.

For Monika, another beneficiary who attended the ceremony, moving to the flat from the slums was an opportunity to give her two sons a better environment to grow up in. “My whole life was spent there. I was born in one lane and then moved to the next lane after marriage. I have been able to make sure my sons are studying, but the environment was bad in the slum,” she said.

Narayan Das, who came to the camp with his family at the age of two from West Bengal in 1979, said he remembers the slum residents being shown the “sample flat” in 2013, during “Sheila’s time”, referring to the late former Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit. He says though his parents passed away since, he was happy to be moving onto the eighth floor flat allotted to him. “Pollution will be less,” he said.

The flats, which have one bedroom, a living room, kitchen, bathroom and balcony, have an area of 25 square metres. Mamta Mandal, who was allotted an 11th floor flat, said though the space would be less than her two-floor home in the slums, it would be “better than the jhuggi”.

Dharamveer, who was among the beneficiaries who were handed over the keys by Modi, said the Prime Minister remarked that he looked very happy. “I told him ‘we are very happy’. We are moving to a flat after 40 years of living in a slum,” he said.