When Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Ray Nagar Pradhanmantri Avas Yojana housing colony, a township of 15,000 houses at Kumbhari in Solapur district tomorrow, he will be fulfilling a promise that he had made to workers and labourers in 2019, for whom the housing colony has been built. Modi said that he had come for the launch of the project, and he would also come to inaugurate it.
Modi has kept his word. So has Comrade Narsayya Adam, the brain behind the housing colony project, who had promised workers that he will build a township of 30,000 houses for workers and labourers. Of the 30,000 flats, 15,000 have been completed and will be handed over to beneficiaries from tomorrow onwards.
So how come a BJP stalwart is inaugurating the project conceived by a communist veteran like Adam, who was three-term MLA from Solapur district. The story is interesting and long.
It dates back to the days of UPA II, when Narsayya Adam, then CPI(M) legislator from Maharashtra conceived the project and took it to the centre with the help of CPM top leaders like Sitaram Yechury so that the central government could fund it in parts while asking Congress-NCP led Maharashtra government to do the needful as well. Despite various rounds of meetings with central ministers and then Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, the project did not take off as adequate funds were not made available. A very powerful Congress leader from Solapur district had made efforts to torpedo Adam's project; this left Adam very disappointed, he however, did not give up hope.
Meanwhile, there had been a change of government at the Centre and in Maharashtra. The BJP had come to power. Modi became PM in May 2014 and Devendra Fadnavis assumed charge as CM in October of the same year.
Adam shared a good rapport with Fadnavis as both of them were part of the opposition benches in the assembly. So Adam took the proposal to Fadnavis, who showing a keen interest, told Adam that he should go ahead and the state government will support the project. Fadnavis also agreed to speak with the central government for a funding from the centre. When PM Modi came to know about the project he assured Fadanvis that centre would also provide funding for the proposed housing colony. It was agreed that centre's component per house will be Rs 1.5 lakh, state component will be Rs 1.5 lakh and a similar amount has to be raised by the beneficiary who is eligible for the scheme.
Thus, in 2019, Modi came for the launch of the project. He praised Adam for the initiative he had taken for the housing for the poor. Adam too praised Modi and Fadnavis for the help extended by central and state governments. Adam's praise of Modi and Fadnavis earned him ire of CPM's national and state leadership. He was suspended from the party for a few months but was welcomed back when the party realised that he had not strayed from the path of party ideology and goals.
It is this project that Modi will inaugurate tomorrow as 15,000 flats are ready at Kumbhari's new township and 15,000 more are being constructed.
