Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday released a financial assistance of around Rs 2,691 crore to 6.1 lakh beneficiaries in Uttar Pradesh under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin, or PMAY-G, scheme.

Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Tomar and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath were also present at the launch, which was held via video conference.

The assistance would include the release of a first installment to 5.30 lakh beneficiaries, and a second installment to 80,000 beneficiaries who have already availed the first installment under PMAY-G.

“In the past few years, around 2 crore houses have been built in rural areas alone,” Modi said during the launch, according to ANI. “Under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, keys of 1.25 crore houses have been handed over to people. Around Rs 1.50 lakh crore has been given by central government alone, to build these houses.”

The prime minister compared these figures with that of the Opposition’s, and said that people of Uttar Pradesh will never forgive the previous governments for their wrong policies. “I am talking about Uttar Pradesh especially, the poor didn’t believe that the government can help them in constructing a house,” he added, according to The Mint. “The previous Awaas schemes, the kind of houses built under them was not hidden from anyone.”

PMAY-G is an extension of the Indira Awas Yojana, which was launched by the Congress government in the 1980s. It gave Rs 70,000 as cash incentives to rural families in need of pucca homes. Modi’s PMAY has increased the amount to Rs 1.2 lakh per house in plain areas and Rs 1.3 lakh in hilly or remote areas. Each house needs to be at least 270 sqft in size.

Popularly known as the “housing for all” mission, through the scheme, the government aims to subsidise the construction of 2.95 crore rural houses and 1.2 urban houses by 2022. So far, 1.26 crore houses have been built across the country under the scheme, according to a release by the Prime Minister’s Office.

The beneficiaries of PMAY-G are also provided support of unskilled labour wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and assistance of Rs 12,000 for construction of toilets through the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G), MGNREGS or any other dedicated source of funding, the PMO said.