TN Govt stalling survey PM housing scheme beneficiaries, says Chouhan

Minister of Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Tuesday alleged that the Tamil Nadu Government had neither conducted the required survey nor taken adequate steps for building houses for the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (PMAY) – Grameen.

Replying to a question on houses for the poor in Tamil Nadu under the PMAY-G during question hour in the Lok Sabha, Chouhan asked the state government not to do injustice against the poor in their state.

“I feel pained to say that despite the Centre’s targets for housing for poor, the Tamil Nadu Government has not approved 2,15,000 houses for them. This is the height of injustice. In addition to this, 3,10,000 houses for poor are yet to be completed, even though the Central Government has sent the money for the purpose to the state government. A sum of around Rs 608 crore is lying in the state government’s account,” the minister added amid protests by the Opposition members against allegations of vote theft and special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Chouhan asked why the Tamil Nadu Government was neither clearing the pending housing projects not building them, despite the availability of funds.

“The Tamil Nadu Government has not even conducted the survey to find out how many beneficiaries living in jhuggis should get pucca houses under the scheme. I urge the state government to expedite the process of clearing houses for the poor,” Chouhan said.