Maharashtra aims to deliver houses two years before deadline

The Maharashtra government has set a target of completing its share of 1.2 million houses for the poor under the Pradhan MantriAwasYojana (PMAY) by 2020, two years ahead of the scheme’s targeted completion deadline.  Under the PMAY scheme, the Centre pays Rs 1.5 lakh to below poverty line (BPL) card holders to construct ‘pucca’ houses, over a 10 million of which are to come up across the country for those identified in the Socio Economic Census (SEC) conducted in 2011. Of the Rs 1.5 lakh, the Centre pays 60% while the rest comes from the state. Each state has been given yearly targets for completion of the project, which range from 200,000 to 500,000 dwellings, depending on the number of BPL families in the state. Maharashtra has around 1.2 million such families.  Last week, during a meeting with Prime Minister NarendraModi, Maharashtra chief minister DevendraFadnavis had sought more funds from the Centre under the PMAY scheme.