The Rural Development Ministry has told a Parliamentary Standing Committee last month that less than 6% of houses sanctioned under the centre’s flagship rural housing scheme in 2020-21 have reached completion so far this year due to COVID-19. However, some states such as Jharkhand and Odisha have used the scheme to provide employment opportunities for migrant workers who returned to their villages during the crisis.
Key Points
- With just a little more than a year left to achieve the target of Housing for All, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin has only completed 55% of its construction target.
- However, money has been sanctioned for almost 85% of beneficiaries.
- As per the Committee’s report presented to the Lok Sabha, out of the 2.28 crore houses to be built for the rural poor under the Yojana, less than 1.27 crore had been completed by January 28, 2021.
- Presently, 61 lakh houses are under construction.
- The PMAY-G was launched in April 2016 with an aim to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all rural families who are homeless or living in kutcha or dilapidated houses by the end of March 2022.
- As per the data provided by the Ministry in 2019, an average of 114 days is required to construct a house under the scheme. COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in long delays at every stage.
- The implementation of the scheme was affected due to the unavailability of construction materials, labour, delay in the inspection of stages of house construction, etc.
- Even though the nationwide lockdown was announced in March 2020, the Ministry issued an advisory to all States to start house construction activities from April 20, 2020, while adhering to safety protocols.
As per the data presented to the Committee, the target was to sanction 63 lakh houses this year. However, only 34 lakh were sanctioned, and only 1.9 lakh of those had reached completion at the end of January. Almost 19 lakh houses reached the lintel level while 6 lakh reached the later stages of construction with roofs ready to be added.
