Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered the state government to remove the tiles endorsing images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi And Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister that were fixed in the house built for the unprivileged under the Prime Minister Housing Scheme. The order came after a petition was filed by Sanjay Purohit, a journalist against the fitting of tiles with PM’s and CM’s face. The bench headed by Justices Sanjay Yadav and Vivek Agrawal, responding to the petition said that only the logo of the central scheme can be carried by the houses.
Advocate Ankur Modi appeared for the petitioner and said that Datia and Hoshangabad were some places where these special tiles were installed, The Indian Express reported. Madhya Pradesh Advocate General Purushendra Kaurav told PTI that the state government has submitted an order in the court withdrawing a previous circular asking to fix tiles with photographs of PM and CM.
A persistent reminder of their benefactors, lakhs of families in Madhya Pradesh had special ceramic tiles having images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan installed in their houses by the state government in April.
Houses with these tiles were built for the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), a government welfare scheme, with an attempt to provide them with heavily subsidised homes. The initiative was to provide housing for all by 2022.
The tiles also had the slogan “Sabka Sapna, Ghar Ho Apana” (Everybody dreams of their own home) on them. Officials had ensured that the two 450×600 tiles were installed at the entrance and in the kitchen of thousands of houses.
However, the Congress had vehemently opposed this plan, claiming that the BJP government is doing this intentionally to influence voters ahead of elections.
“Since the state government and its functionaries have withdrawn the direction for installing the tiles carrying the picture of PM and CM, no further cause survives for adjudication. Consequently, the petition stands disposed of having been rendered infructuous,” the division bench said in its order.
The Logical Indian Take
A welfare scheme run by either state or central government is paid by taxpayers, it is not to be misused for electoral benefits. Also, it raises a question why the poor who are being benefitted out of any scheme need to be reminded who their benefactors are. It is necessary to understand that it is the responsibility of the government to provide for the poor and welfare scheme is not to be seen as a favour being done by the government.
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