RANCHI: Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday launched Abua Awas Yojana by handing over acceptance letters to 3887 beneficiaries of Khunti and 4, 000 of Simdega during a programme organised at NHPC ground in Khunti.
Under the scheme, three-room houses will be made available to 8 lakh needy in the next three years. First installment of Rs 50,000 was given to the beneficiaries. As per the target fixed by state government, Abua houses will be given to two lakh people in the current financial year, 3.5 lakh people in the year 2025 and 2.5 lakh people in the year 2026.
The needy and destitute will be provided three room pucca houses along with a kitchen spread over 31 square meters constructed at the cost of Rs 2 lakh per unit. As of now, nearly 30 lakh applications have been received which have already been verified.
“This is the first such step after the formation of Jharkhand that the state government is enabling people of this state to live a dignified life, and hence, the Abua Awas Yojana has been launched,” said CM Hemant Soren.
According to the Chief Minister, the state government had provided the list of homeless people to the central government requesting them to provide housing to these eight lakh people. The list was also uploaded on the portal, but the central government did not approve housing for the poor.
“Therefore, the state government decided to build Abua Awas on its own. This will be a permanent residence with three rooms and a kitchen. Earlier, two-room houses were constructed under PM Awas Yojana, for which Rs 1.3 lakh were given. My government is giving Rs 2 lakh for the construction of Abua house,” said Soren.
Nearly 30 lakh applications were received during the Aapki Yojana Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar program, he added. Sore further informed that after verification of applications, the state government is working towards providing housing to those 20 lakh needy people in different phases.
The government will increase construction of houses from eight lakh to 20 lakh and provide better housing than before, he said. Notably, those who have not been given any benefits of the housing schemes carried out by the state and central government, households living in kuccha houses, homeless and destitute people, PVTG households, legally rescued bonded labours and the households who have lost their house in natural calamities, will be eligible to get the benefits of the scheme.
The Chief Minister also informed that they are also providing employment and self-employment opportunities to the youth in the state. Private sector has fixed 75 percent reservation for local people and more than 50, 000 skilled youth have been given employment in various industries, he said.