Housing scheme fails to take off in city

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 28

The ambitious Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna-Housing for All by 2022 scheme has failed to take off in Bathinda.

As per information, a large number of applications received under the scheme were turned down by the state government after verification.

Even after verification of the forms was over, the funds never reached the beneficiaries.

The Municipal Corporation Bathinda, where the application for the scheme were initially submitted, shared that as many as 4,632 persons had applied for funds under the scheme.

They had demanded funds for renovation of their houses.

Of these applications, only 742 were found to be valid and fulfilling the basic criteria laid down by the Central Government. The remaining 3,890 applications were rejected.

Apart from the housing scheme, the Central Government was also to release funds for providing houses to those living in slum areas.

For the housing scheme, the MCB had received 1,682 applications, of which 940 were verified and 235 were put in the waiting list while the rest were rejected.

As part of the scheme, benefit was to be given to the people belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS), including slum-dwellers and low income groups (LIGs).

Speaking to Bathinda Tribune, Mayor Balwant Rai Nath said a large of applications were rejected as these didn’t fulfil the government criteria.

While some applicants didn’t have Aadhaar cards, others didn’t have residence proof and other required documents.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation had made a plan under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna under which 30 slum areas in the city were to be revamped.

The cost of the project was proposed to be Rs 700 crore in which the Central Government, Punjab Government and the Municipal Corporation had to pool in funds.

Beneficiaries would be provided loan at 6 per cent yearly interest.

The total numbers of households verified in the first survey, which will be benefited under the scheme, are 11,867.

Apart from the households located within the MCB limits, 6,000 other households had also been selected, which are on the outskirts of the city, but not many from them applied for the scheme.

Under the scheme, the Central grant of Rs one lakh on an average per house can be used by states for renovation.

For redevelopment, around 21,000 households have been included. On an average, Rs 7 lakh would be incurred on one household.

At least 5,000 households have been included for upgrading. For each household, Rs 3.5 lakh will be spent.

As many as 300 households have been included for relocation and Rs 6 lakh will be spent on each household.

The Mayor said the money was to be directly transferred to the accounts of the beneficiaries of the scheme as part of which their houses were to be renovated.

He said the MCB didn’t keep a track of whether the funds were transferred to the accounts or not.