Basudevpur: Amid allegations that the Centre’s flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Gramin has faltered due to tardy pace of work, the administration has laid stress on expeditious execution of the rural housing scheme in Basudevpur block of Bhadrak district.
Due to slow pace of construction and other problems, the block is unlikely to achieve the target in the current fiscal. Target achievement in previous years was also poor.
PMAY-Gramin was launched in 2016 with an aim to provide pucca houses with basic amenities to all rural households by the end of 2022.
Basudevpur block has 36 panchayats. In 2019-20 fiscal, 4,933 beneficiaries were identified for housing units. Of them, 4,849 have been provided the first installment of funds (Rs 20,000 each). As many as 1,899 beneficiaries received their second installment of Rs 30,000 each, 1,224 received their third installment of Rs 40,000 and 557 got their fourth installment.
However, only 1,378 beneficiaries have completed their housing units and got an incentive amount of Rs 1.2 lakh.
Even in 2016-17, the block had missed the target. The administration had identified 2,800 beneficiaries while 2,314 of them completed their housing units in the same year.
The situation was the same in fiscal 2017-18. Of 1,990 beneficiaries, only 1,587 completed their houses in the same year. The block had identified 1438 beneficiaries in 2018-19. Only 1094 beneficiaries have got their houses completed in the same year.
It was learnt that PMAY funds had been bungled with the help of some panchayat executive officers and block officials. The administration, though late, had taken action.
The Union Rural Development Ministry has been laying stress on in-time completion of housing projects.
Accordingly, officials like the DRDA project director, the additional project director, the BDO and other officials are visiting villages, encouraging people to complete their houses in the block.
BDO Pranab Kumar Behera said beneficiaries are always sensitised about the need for hastening house construction work.
They are also told about the actions that can be taken against them if they fail to start and hasten their work, Behera added.