Middle class families scared of Income Tax authorities, I will change that: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said his government is committed to resolve the situation where people are scared of the Income Tax authorities, particularly among middle class families, assuring that he will bring the change.

"We want to change the situation where people are scared of income tax authorities, particularly among middle class families. We have to change this situation and I will change it. I want to change the lives of common people, I am committed to it," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing the nation on the occasion of 70th Independence Day.

Asserting that renewable energy is a focus area for the government, Prime Minister Modi said that before the BJP-led NDA government, they used to lay 30,000-35,000 km in transmission lines in a year, but today their government lays 50,000 km in transmission lines per year.

He said today, in all the major government hospitals, online registration is available and medical records are also available online."There was a time when government was surrounded by allegations but now the government is surrounded by expectations. There was a time when getting a passport was a tedious process and needed strong references. We have changed this. Now, one can avail passport in a week, have eased processes. We have to give speed to our work," he added.

Prime Minister Modi said in the last 60 years, 14 crore people were given gas connections, while the present government provided gas connections to over four crore people in 60 weeks."We have connected 70 crore Indians to Aadhaar and social security schemes. We are working to bring in social change. In such a short span of time we have built two crore toilets. Over 70,000 villages are free from open-defecation," he added.

The Prime Minister asserted that his government has taken forward the work of village roads which was started under former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. "Earlier, we used to make 70-75 kms of roads in a day. Today we make over 100 kms in a day. We have found 9,000 lower ranks in which there will not be any interviews, there will not be any need of references and middlemen. These appointments are being done on merit. Today the citizen is not happy with just the announcement of projects, the unveiling of plans. She / He want to see the actual work being done on the ground," he added.

While pointing out that in the past, when someone wanted to start a company, set up a factory - it used to take months, Prime Minister Modi said at present the government is ready to register them within 24 hours."For Surajya, you also need good governance. We have made the impossible possible by connecting 21 crore people to Jan Dhan. We can contribute a lot to curb global warming by using IED bulbs and saving energy. From Delhi it takes three hours to reach Nagla Fatela village in Hathras, it took 70 years for electricity to reach there," he added.

Prime Minister Modi addressed the nation from the Red Fort on the 70th Independence Day.It is the third time that he is addressing the nation on August 15 as Prime Minister.Before beginning his speech, he unfurled the national flag at the Red Fort.The Prime Minister was received by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre, Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar and General Officer Commanding (GOC) Delhi area Lt. General Vijay Singh.He inspected the Guard of Honour in the company of Wing Commander K. Srinivas.