The government on Wednesday (16 March) said that around 1.75 crore houses have been completed under the Pradhan Mantri Awass Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
“Under the scheme, 2.28 crore houses have been sanctioned to the beneficiaries, out of which 1.75 crore houses have been completed as on 9 March 2022,” the Rural Development Ministry said in a statement.
PMAY-G aims at providing a pucca house, with basic amenities, to all houseless householder and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated house.
The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of PMAY-G beyond March, 2021 till March, 2024 for completion of remaining houses within the cumulative target of 2.95 crore houses under PMAY-G.
The PMAY-G guidelines provides for construction of house within 12 months from the date of sanctioning the same to the beneficiary.
The assistance is released to the beneficiary in a minimum of three instalments linked to various stages of completion like at the time of sanction, foundation, plinth, windowsill, lintel, roof etc.
Since the figures of house sanction and completion are dynamic and there is a gap of 12 months between sanction of house till its completion, therefore, there would always be some gap between the figures of houses sanctioned and houses built during the implementation of the scheme, the ministry clarified.
During the period of Covid-19 pandemic induced nation-wide lockdown, all construction activities including construction of houses under PMAY-G were also affected which retarded the pace of construction of PMAY-G houses, it said.
The ministry said that it was taking the following initiatives to ensure timely completion of the houses under PMAY-G:
- Regular review of progress at the level of Ministry to ensure timely completion of targeted houses.
- The States/UTs have been requested to expedite the completion of houses approved under PMAY-G with specific focus and priority of houses for which second and third installments have been released.
- Daily monitoring on various parameters like gaps in sanction of houses, cleaning of PWL of PMAY-G.
- Timely allocation of targets to the States/UTs and release of adequate funds at the level of the ministry.
- Promotion of eco-friendly & innovative technologies for house construction.
- Regular follow ups with the State to ensure release of central and state share of funds and provision of land to landless beneficiaries in rural areas.
- Expeditious resolution of technical issues and other constraints faced by the States.
- Steps are being taken to increase the coverage of Rural Mason Training (RMT) programme which would increase the availability of trained masons leading to faster construction of quality houses.
- Awards to the best performing States/UTs, Districts based on performance index dashboard, thereby creating healthy competition and motivation among the States/UTs for achieving the set targets.