Ahead of the Panchayat elections, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced house repairing assistance of Rs 3,000 for those, who have availed houses under state schemes, and Rs 5,000 for those who are waiting to get a house under the PMAY.
All the beneficiaries, who have availed houses under the state sponsored schemes – Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY), BPGY (mining) and Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana will get house repairing assistance of Rs 3,000 each.
Similarly, the eligible families who are waiting to get a house under the Central scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Grameen) will get Rs 5,000 each, said Patnaik while addressing the people of Odisha in a video message yesterday evening.
About 30 lakh families will be benefited with this decision and the amount will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, the Chief Minister said.
The state government will bear an additional cost of Rs 1,444 crore for this move and the fund will be met from BPGY, he added.
Speaking about steps taken by his government in providing houses to rural poor, Patnaik said, “In the first Cabinet of my government after the 2014 election, we had decided to convert all kutcha houses to pucca and a good work has been done in this direction.”
Odisha is one of the leading states in the country in execution of rural housing schemes. The state government has spent more than Rs 22,000 crore in this sector since 2014, he further said.
Many eligible families have been waiting for a long time to get a house under the Central scheme.
Sadly, most of the people belong to tribal areas and western Odisha districts, he pointed out.
In this regard, Patnaik said he has been repeatedly drawing the attention of the Central government.
Hitting out at the Central government for not sanctioning PMAY houses for the people of Odisha, Naveen said: “As long as my government is there, I will not allow my brothers and sisters in the State to be harassed for a house. I wish everyone to live with dignity. We are trying to get a pucca house for you all from the Central scheme.”
“However, no need to worry, if the Central government does not accept yours’ legitimate right, the state government is with you. We will take steps to provide a pucca house for you all,” he assured the people.
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