The flats were allotted through a lottery on June 9.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today handed over keys to 76 flats built for the poor, on land confiscated from murdered gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, in Prayagraj. The flats were built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) and were allotted through a lottery earlier this month.
Visuals from the site showed the chief minister and his deputy, Keshav Maurya, inspecting the flats and also interacting with children. The Chief Minister later handed over allotment letters to the beneficiaries at a function.
According to officials, each flat covers an area of 41 square meters and has two rooms, a kitchen, and a toilet. Over 6,000 people had applied to the Prayagraj Development Authority for the flats, and 1,590 people were found eligible to participate in the allotment lottery process.
"This is the same state where before 2017 any mafia could grab the land of the poor, businessmen, or even government institutions. The poor could only look away helplessly then. Now, we are building homes for the poor on the same land that we have seized from these mafias, this is a big achievement," the Chief Minister said at the function.
In April this year, Atiq, who faced at least 100 criminal cases, and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead on camera while they were being taken for a medical check-up in Prayagraj. They were in the custody of the Uttar Pradesh police at the time. A few days before the incident, Atiq was convicted in a kidnapping case and sentenced to life imprisonment.