Odisha to make low-cost houses for poor

Announcing a plan to launch Shelter Security Mission in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore would be spent on the programme to provide low-cost affordable housing for the poor in both rural and urban areas.
"The state government will shortly launch its Shelter Security Mission. Government will spend about Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore in the mission," Patnaik said after inaugurating a two-day conference of District Collectors here.
Along with rural housing, Odisha government also proposed to come out with low cost affordable housing for urban poor, particularly those living in slum areas, he said, adding, "The mission will be directly monitored by me and it will encompass both urban and rural areas."

Patnaik also said the state government would convert all 'kutcha' houses in the state to 'pucca' houses in five years under the mission and in order to achieve this, it would be necessary to facilitate construction of more than five lakh houses every year.
Noting that a task of this scale requires huge mobilisation of resources, manpower, scientific and innovative implementation strategy and precise monitoring and execution, Patnaik said the government will leave no stone unturned in mobilising funds for this mission.
"This is a huge task but if all of us work in a team with intelligence, hard work and sincerity we should be able to do this," he said.

Stating that one of the bottlenecks in implementation of rural housing schemes is the completion ratio, Patnaik said to overcome this and facilitate speedy completion of houses with an objective of 'zero incomplete houses', the government decided to provide Rs 10,000 cash incentive for houses that are completed within four months from the date of issue of work order and release of first installment.

Out of this, Rs 9,000 would go to the beneficiary who can utilise this for purchase of household articles for the completed house purely as per her/his choice. The remaining Rs 1,000 would go to government functionaries who have monitored and supervised the construction work, he said.

Those who complete houses in six months can get Rs 5,000 cash inventive of which Rs 500 will go to the government functionaries who have monitored and supervised construction.
Further, cash incentive and awards would be instituted for Gram Panchayats, blocks and districts performing well in 'Biju Pucca Ghar' scheme. An untied fund of Rs 10 to 30 lakh would be provided annually to each district collector based on the number of blocks in the district, Patnaik said.
This fund can be utilised by the collectors for innovations that will help in effective implementation of the scheme. They can also use this fund for improving, monitoring and as incentives to those persons/agencies who help in the effective implementation of this scheme, Patnaik said.

There shall also be a concurrent monitoring by a third party, the chief minister said.