Jujwa (Gujarat): Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that every paisa of a rupee released by his government reached the poor, in an apparent jibe at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's famous comment that only about 15 paise from every rupee disbursed by the Centre reached the targeted beneficiaries.

Modi said there was no place for middlemen and asserted that his endeavour was to provide every Indian family a home by 2022.

"If one rupee is released from Delhi, the entire 100 paise (now) reach the house of the poor."

Addressing a public gathering in this Gujarat village after a collective "e-gruha pravesh" (online house warming) event for beneficiaries of the Prime Minister's Housing Scheme for Rural Areas, Modi said people now did not have to pay bribes to receive benefits of the Centre's flagship scheme.

He said he dreamt of every family owning a house by 2022 when the nation will celebrate 75 years of independence.

"While talking to the women beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, I was watching the houses behind them. Even you would be wondering how such good quality houses were built under that scheme," Modi said, referring to his interaction through video conferencing with some beneficiaries. "This was made possible because there is no place for middlemen in my government."

Modi said his government had the "guts" to ask the women beneficiaries - when the entire country is watching and the media is present - if they had to pay any bribe or commission to get the houses.

"In reply, the mothers and sisters could say with satisfaction that they got the houses according to rules and they did not have to pay a single rupee as bribe," he said.

The Prime Minister said his government had paid due attention to ensure that these houses were of good quality.

"Gujarat has taught me a lot. It has taught me to fulfil dreams within a specific time. It is my dream, it is our endeavour to ensure that every Indian family has its own home by 2022," he said.

Interacting with women beneficiaries, Modi asked them about their experience of owning a concrete house and quizzed them about cleanliness, education of the girl child, and supply of water, power and gas connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana.

He asked some women if they had to pay any bribe to middlemen to get the amount of around Rs 1.5 lakh under the housing scheme.

Modi said bribery was not possible as the money was transferred directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries.

The erstwhile rural housing scheme, the Indira Awaas Yojana, was restructured as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), which was launched by Modi in November 2016.

As part of the government's "Housing for All by 2022" scheme, targets have been set to complete one crore new pucca houses in rural areas by March 2019 and 2.95 crore by 2022.

According to information available on the rural development ministry website, 18.22 lakh houses were completed under the erstwhile scheme in 2015-16, while the number rose to over 32 lakh in 2016-17 and 44.54 lakh in 2017-18 after taking into account houses built under the new scheme and completion of incomplete houses started under the previous plan.

The PMAY-G aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all houseless families and those living in kutcha and dilapidated houses by 2022.

It provides unit assistance of Rs 1.20 lakh in the plains and Rs 1.30 lakh in hilly areas, besides other benefits. The assistance cost is shared between the central and the state government in the ratio of 60:40 in the plains and 90:10 in the northeastern and Himalayan states.