Jajpur: Over 1 lakh people residing in urban areas of the state do not have a pucca house to live in. The Centre-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is one among the many housing schemes launched by the Centre and the state government to facilitate access to affordable housing for the low and moderate-income residents in the country. However, what has proved a dampener is that the Centre has reportedly stopped payment of the second phase installment of funds for houses constructed under PMAY. This has happened due to the non-branding of the details of the beneficiary on the constructed house in alleged violation of guidelines. It is apprehended that the second phase installment of the funds may not be available to the beneficiaries in future. Assistant director Anjali Maurya of Union Finance Ministry has issued an office memorandum to the state Principal Secretary, Finance Vishal Kumar Dev in this regard, March 12, 2024.
On receipt of the memorandum, Dev has asked the additional chief secretary of the Housing and Urban Development department to take necessary steps in this regard. Accordingly, Joint Secretary Mayadhar Pattayat of state Housing and Urban Development Department has written a letter (No-431) dated March 14, 2024 to all municipal commissioners and executive officers asking them to put on the logo and other work details of the house constructed under PMAY on the basis of the guidelines. The letter also directs them to sensitise the beneficiaries in this regard.
According to the details available by March 2023, 1,778 houses have been provided to the beneficiaries from 2009-2015 under ‘Basic Service to Urban Poor’ scheme. Bhubaneswar and Puri urban areas have been included and Rs 46.71 crores spent under this scheme. Similarly, 11,296 houses have been provided under Integrated Housing Slum Development programme at an expenditure of 171.72 crore between 2009 to 2015.
Moreover, 4,773 houses at an expenditure of Rs 359 crore have been provided under Rajiv Awas Yojana in between 2013 to 2022. As many as 61,091 houses have been provided at an expenditure of Rs 1,459 crore in all 114 urban areas of the state under PMAY between 2015 to 2022. Meanwhile, details are being collected in all civic body areas to provide houses to the rest of the people in the urban areas of the state. A plan outlay of Rs 317.76 crore has been made for PMAY in the last Budget. The Union Finance Ministry has alleged that guidelines for the construction of PMAY houses have been completely violated in the state. The Central government has issued an office memorandum to the state government alleging that the houses constructed under PMAY do not have the logo and other details branded on the walls, and therefore it has stopped releasing the second phase installment of funds. The memorandum also mentions that the second phase installment of funds will be released only after submission of compliance report. The state government, however, has rejected the allegations which the Finance Ministry has mentioned in the memorandum.
