Huge response to Congress' proposed housing scheme in Guj

"As per our 12-point People Development Vision 2012, Gujarat Congress has promised house ownership to every woman of the state if we come to power and for that we have already distributed more then 20 lakh forms," Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said today.

The Congress had announced the scheme 'own your own home' for women as part of its vision document on August 1.

Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil had, on that day, said, "If our party comes to power, we will give possession (of home) to three lakh women in the first year and our target is to build a total of 10 lakh houses only for women so that their future remains secured."

The party had sent 27 lakh forms to every district office from where it was to be distributed to women of specific economic strata in eight municipal corporations, 160 municipalities and 550 booths, Doshi said.

At several places today in the state, women had came out in a big way and there were reports of long queues to collect the forms for the proposed housing scheme, he claimed.

"Though we are happy to get huge response for our scheme, it is very unfortunate that inspite of having its government for past more then 10 years, the BJP has failed to provide affordable housing in the state," Doshi said.

The scheme, however, has attracted criticism by Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

"Distributing papers which do not have the seal of President or Prime Minister of India amounts to cheating," Modi had said recently while reacting to the Congress' poll promise.

"We are not distributing ownership papers, we are just giving forms for fulfilling our commitment towards the people of the state," Doshi said while refuting the allegations levelled by Modi.