Sambalpur: The Central government had set a target to provide pucca houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to all the people eligible for housing benefits in the country by 2022. The target stands in sharp contrast with ground reality of the PMAY implementation in Sambalpur district. In the last three years, only 145 housing units under PMAY have been allotted to the district while over 22,000 people are still waiting for such houses.
According to reports, ensuring concrete houses to all the poor people by 2022 was one of the poll promises made by the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP’s Central and state leaders had reiterated the housing promise at rallies and meetings before the 2019 elections.
However, the deadline for the housing target has lapsed while the achievement in the PMAY implementation in Sambalpur is quite discouraging with locals alleging that the PMAY has been given short shrift due to administrative apathy in the district. Till date, scores of poor families have not been able to register their names for the housing scheme.
Official data say, 22,498 poor families who have applied for housing benefits, have been facing hardships without pucca houses. In 2017, nearly 85,000 people had applied for PMAY houses, but names of many applicants had been struck off from the list for various reasons during verification.
Some applicants had later withdrawn their names on their own. Besides, some people have got houses under other housing schemes of the state and Central governments. The number of housing units that had been allotted to the district between 2016 and 2018, was deceased later. Many of the applicants demanded that they should be provided houses under other housing schemes. On the basis of the 2011 census, families eligible for the PMAY were enlisted with target to provide houses to them in five years (between 2016 and 2021).
About 85,000 families had applied for housing benefits. However, 39, 456 of them were finally enlisted after verification. The government had sanctioned 39,348 houses while work orders were distributed to beneficiaries in a phased manner in the five years. Till date, 39, 123 houses have been completed while work of 225 houses is at different stagesfor various factors.
However, fund crunch has been a major problem for new applicants. Executive officer of the Zilla Parishad, Dilip Kumar Bal said that the target in the PMAY housing in the five years has almost been achieved, except a few incomplete houses. “New houses have not been allotted. Those waiting for houses will be provided after further allotment, but it will be done only after verifying the eligibility criteria of the applicants,” he added.
However, Leader of Opposition and senior BJP leader Jaynarayan Mishra said that the housing target was to be met by 2022, but it could not be achieved due to negligence of the state government. The target is now reset at 2024. “In the last three years, a major portion of the housing units has been allotted to coastal districts while the western Odisha districts have been neglected in the housing allotment,” Mishra observed.