Central nod for 11.49 lakh rural houses set to boost construction in Bihar

Amid the slump in economic activity owing to Covid-induced lockdowns, the state government hopes for an impetus to the construction activity as the Centre has sanctioned several lakh new houses under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana both in urban and rural areas this fiscal (2021-22)

Amid the slump in economic activity owing to Covid-induced lockdowns, the state government hopes for an impetus to the construction activity as the Centre has sanctioned several lakh new houses under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana both in urban and rural areas this fiscal (2021-22).

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Sources said 11.49 lakh houses have been approved by the rural development ministry for sanction under PMAY (rural) in this fiscal, as per the revised list of beneficiaries prepared through a survey to include households left out in the socio-economic census in 2011.

The beneficiaries under PMAY(rural), which is fully funded by the Centre, are selected under 13 parameters and are mainly those who have no pucca houses. A total of 32 lakh new households have been included in the list revised over the last few years.

“We expect to sanction 10 lakh homes to selected beneficiaries by July and work would start on these units in next few months. This will boost rural economy in a big way,” said Arvind Choudhary, principal secretary, rural development department.

He said allotment of new units would be in addition to around 7 lakh houses already under construction, which have been allotted to beneficiaries under permanent waiting list ( PWL).

He said the department is hoping to release at least two instalments worth ₹80,000 to each of the household whose unit is sanctioned for this fiscal to start the constriction of affordable houses on ground. “We are hoping to sanction at least 10 lakh houses out of targeted 11.49 lakh this year,” said Choudhary.

This means the government would be releasing ₹8,000 crore to kick-start construction work on 10 lakh units this fiscal.

“This will give a big impetus to the construction sector and employment of labour to boost the rural economy,” said Rajesh Parimal, deputy secretary, rural development department.

Similarly, the state’s urban development department has got approval for 6,739 new units under PMAY (Urban), a senior official said. Under this scheme, ₹2 lakh is released to beneficiaries for constructing pucca houses in municipal limits of 142 municipal bodies in the state.

However, the record of construction of PMAY(U) units does not make for a good reading. Sources said a total 3.37 lakh units are still pending against the total sanctioned units over the past five years.

Around 42,000 houses under the scheme are in different stages of completion.

“The lockdown due to Covid and restrictions have had an adverse impact on construction activity for the last two years. But we are trying to speed up the construction work,” said, a senior official in the UDD who is engaged in implementing the scheme.

Anand Kishore, principal secretary, urban development department, could not be reached for comment.