Over 1 mn houses built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, claims Centre

The target for completion of 10 lakh houses by November 2017 has been achieved as on November 29, 2017, under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin), the Centre claimed on Wednesday.

The Centre aims to build 15 lakh houses by December 31 this year; 25 lakh houses by January 31, 2018; 35 lakh houses by February 28, 2018 and 51 lakh houses by March 31, 2018, an official release from the Ministry of Rural Development noted.

For the unversed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) on November 20 this year from Agra. A target of completing one crore new houses by March 31, 2019, was set. Of these, 51 lakh houses are to be completed by March 31, 2018.

"To meet the challenge of assisting 51 lakh Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) beneficiaries in the construction of their homes by March, 2018, the Ministry of Rural Development, in partnership with the State Governments, has taken many steps, including setting a month-wise target for completion of houses," the release noted.

TO this regard, the Ministry said 56.90 lakh beneficiaries have been sanctioned houses, 51.39 lakh beneficiaries have received the first installment, 31.03 lakh beneficiaries have nearly reached roof-cast levels and for 16.05 lakh beneficiaries, the house construction is nearing completion.

States like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, who have the highest number of PMAY-G beneficiaries, are on course for completion of PMAY-G houses within the prescribed time-frame, the Ministry stated.

To ensure good quality of house construction, Rural Mason Training have been organised to facilitate the availability of trained masons in the rural areas. Space technology and IT platforms are being used to monitor complete cycle of house construction, right from identification of beneficiary to construction stages of houses to completion and each stage is being geotagged.