Odisha achieves only 62 per cent of its (PMAY-G) Target

With only 11 months to go to achieve the goal of 'Housing for All', the State government has only completed 62 per cent (pc) of its construction target under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). The selection of beneficiaries through a three-stage validation

BY Realty Plus
Published - Wednesday, 28 Apr, 2021

Odisha achieves only 62 per cent of its (PMAY-G) Target

With only 11 months to go to achieve the goal of 'Housing for All', the State government has only completed 62 per cent (pc) of its construction target under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). The selection of beneficiaries through a three-stage validation (Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, Gram Sabha and geo-tagging) has ensured selection of the poorest of the poor under PMAY-G. However, the selection of beneficiaries in the State was mired in controversy after detection of a large number of ineligible making into the permanent wait list (PWL) prepared by the Panchayati Raj department. A recent review of the progress of this flagship scheme by MoRD during approval of the annual action plan for 2021-22 revealed that the State has completed construction of 9,21,941 houses against a target of 9,92,558 houses in Phase-I and 5,80,534 houses against a Phase-II target of 14,30,454 houses by the end of February. However, CM Naveen Patnaik requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sanction 14.94 lakh special houses for providing houses to 7.87 lakh Fani affected families and 6.07 lakh eligible beneficiaries left out from the PWL in 16 non-Fani affected districts. With an unspent balance of Rs 1,396.65 crore with the State, the Centre sanctioned Rs 3,810 crore which includes the State share of Rs 1,524 crore for the current fiscal. The State has made a budgetary allocation of Rs 3,000 crore for rural housing. According to the Ministry, Odisha was among the few states that used the scheme to provide employment opportunities for migrant workers who returned to their villages during the crisis. The State completed construction of 10.5 pc of its 2020-21 target and began work on at least 85 pc of those for which money was sanctioned.