Awas Yojana: State urges Centre to grant addl quota
Kolkata: The Bengal government has placed its demand before the Centre for sanctioning additional quota under the Awas Yojana so that around 20,000 applicants whose names are there in the list and deserve a house are not deprived.
A senior government official said the Centre had given permission for the setting up of around 11,36,000 houses under the PM Awas Yojana. The state government has already finished the listing of most of these houses. In some cases, some technical issues relating to land and others came up as a result of which the process was delayed. Around 20,000 genuine candidates are there who deserve a house. If the Centre gives permission for the additional quota, people of Bengal will be benefitted, the official added.
The state government has written a letter to the Centre urging it to clear the dues worth around Rs 6,800 crore which the Bengal government is supposed to get from the Centre under various projects.
Following the requests of the state, the Centre has recently extended the last date of approving applications under the Awas Yojana up to a month. Earlier, the December 31 was the last date of submitting applications. It was presumed that clearance would be given to set up 11,36,488 houses within that date. The state government has acted on a war footing and permission was given to construct 10,50,000 houses within the stipulated time. Around 90 per cent of the eligible applicants were given clearances. The Centre had written to the state on November 24 that the remaining allotment of funds would be diverted to other states.
According to sources, the Centre has extended the last date of application as around 14 lakh houses across the country are yet to receive permission and various states, including Uttar Pradesh, have seen low rate of registration. The state government had formed a 9-member task force with Panchayats and Rural Development Secretary P Ulganathan at its head to scrutinise the Awas Yojana works in all the districts and also to examine whether there are any complaints regarding the distribution of houses under the scheme. The main objective behind the move is to bring more transparency in the distribution of houses which are being set up under the PM Awas Yojana and also to ensure smooth implementation of various Panchayat projects.
The ruling Trinamool Congress on various occasions hit out at the BJP led Centre for not giving approval to all the 39 lakh applicants who have been verified by the state government as eligible candidates for a house under the PM Awas Yojana.
