Govt releases Rs 272 crore housing assistance for rural families

JAMMU — In line with the announcement of ensuring housing to the rural poor in Jammu and Kashmir by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has released a significant amount of Rs. 272.55 crore for disbursement among the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) through Direct Benefit Transfer.

This amount included the Central share of Rs. 245.30 crore released by the Ministry of Rural Development recently.

The Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has initiated a series of interventions at the ground level for effective implementation of the scheme aiming at providing housing support to vulnerable families in rural areas. Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, consistently reviewed the implementation of the scheme to ensure sustained efforts and targeted achievements on this account.

According to an official communique received here today in this regard, the Rural Development Department and Panchayati Raj has disbursed Rs. 200 crores among the PMAY-G beneficiaries in the last 10 days, facilitating payment of the first installment to 3450 beneficiaries, second installment to 24388 beneficiaries and third installment to 9860 beneficiaries.

It is imperative to mention here that the Department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj has been implementing the CSS PMAY-G since April 1, 2016, to provide monetary assistance to construct 3.37 lakh pucca houses with basic amenities. Nearly 187694 houses have been completed to date, of which a record number of 59982 houses have been completed in 2023–24 only.

Further, 149282 houses are at various stages of construction and the department is putting in strenuous efforts eyeing completion of ongoing houses in the ensuing six months. The PMAY-G would fulfill the beneficiaries’ dream of a ‘Pucca House’ with basic amenities, boost their self-esteem, social status and standard of living.

In this endeavour, 138511 PMAY-G houses were sanctioned in June 2023 in the block-level camps against a special target allotted by the Union Ministry of Rural Development, pursuant to the personal efforts of the Lieutenant Governor.

As a sequel to this, the department has achieved successful saturation of Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) and Awaas Plus Permanent waiting lists, besides disbursing Rs. 1285.41 crore housing assistance among the beneficiaries against an approved allocation of Rs. 1726 crore.

To ensure comprehensive coverage, the Administrative Council, led by the Lieutenant Governor, took a significant decision to allocate five-marla land to land-deprived families being covered under PMAY-G, ensuring their inclusion in the scheme. The UT Government remains committed to providing additional assistance of approximately Rs. 400 crore to PMAY-G beneficiaries by the end of this financial year.

Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhry, Secretary Rural Development Department and Panchayati Raj, has effectively mobilized field staff to meet scheme objectives promptly. He has initiated several innovative measures to facilitate efficient implementation and ensure timely completion as well as quality of construction works.