Hardeep Singh Puri completes one year as minister in MoHUA

Hardeep Singh PuriHardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affair (Independent Charge) on Monday completed one year of his tenure in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affair (MoHUA).

While elucidating his experience under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said in a tweet: “Drawing inspiration from Hon’ble PM @narendramodi & his vision for urban transformation, it has been a year of learning & implementing ideas I gathered living in cities around the world.”

“I was in Colombo, battling dental complications, when I received a call on the morning of 2nd Sept 2017, that Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi wanted to see me immediately,” the minister tweeted.

“Till I met the PM in Delhi later that evening, I had no inkling of what he had in store for me. I am thankful to Hon’ble PM for the trust he has reposed. This one year has been very different from life in my previous profession in the world of international diplomacy,” said another tweet by the minister.

Puri said that September 3 was a very special day for him, as on one hand “we have Janmashtami celebrations” and on the other “it was on this day I was inducted to the cabinet”.

Puri has served in several diplomatic positions in Japan, Sri Lanka, Brazil and the United Kingdom. He has also served as the chairman of the United Nations Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee and as the President of United Nations Security Council. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014 after getting inspired with the party’s approach to national security.

The Union Minister has been very proactive in implementing several housing schemes across various cities in India. A total of 91 Smart Cities have incorporated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) under his watch. Besides that, a project involving 15 lakh houses has been implemented in Lucknow; three lakh homes are under construction in Madhya Pradesh and many more such projects have either been completed or being implemented across the country.