Bhubaneswar: Occupants of as many as 5 lakh houses constructed under the erstwhile Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) across the state about 16 years ago are staring at a future which could see them without a roof over their heads.
Having seen better days, these concrete houses are now in a state of dilapidation and may soon become unworthy of living, but their occupants will have nowhere to go as being beneficiaries of IAY, they are not eligible for benefits under its present avatar Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
Moreover, IAY beneficiaries are also not eligible for the concrete houses offered under Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) and other housing schemes of the state government. According to sources in the Panchayati Raj department, as many as 5 lakh houses, constructed more than 16 years ago, are in a bad shape.
Similarly, people, who had constructed houses partially by availing a few instalments under the IAY, are also in a dilemma as they have also been excluded from the PMAY-G. “The PMAY-G has no provision to include IAY beneficiaries whose houses are in dilapidation,” said a senior officer of the department.
The Centre and the state government have several housing schemes including PMAY-G and BPGY to provide concrete houses to all people by 2022. It is learnt that the Centre had given a target to the state government to construct 2, 55, 998 houses under PMAY-G for 2018-19 financial year.
This apart, the state government had planned to build around 4.5 lakh concrete houses under other schemes for the current fiscal. However, the Centre is yet to provide its share of funds for the PMAY-G to the state government for the current financial year, sources said.
The Centre is required to pay 60 per cent of the project cost of PMAY-G while the state government is supposed to fund the remaining. According to sources, the Centre was supposed to provide Rs 972 crore to the state as first instalment for this fiscal’s PMAY-G houses by April and another tranche of the same amount by September.
“We have exhausted our share of funds for PMAY-G by providing initial instalments to beneficiaries. But, the Centre is yet to provide its share for the scheme. We are now facing problems to meet the target. The state government has raised the issue with the Ministry of Rural Development but to no avail,” said the official. Panchayati Raj department sources claimed that as many as 40,000 houses sanctioned under the IAY during 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years are lying unfinished in the state.
