BENGALURU: The state housing department is working on clearing a huge backlog under the housing schemes. They have not set any new targets and budgetary allocations since 2021. The focus is to facilitate the already identified beneficiaries, department officials said.
Data from the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation Ltd (RGHCL) for one of the sub schemes, Devaraj Urs, revealed 1.07 lakh houses were sanctioned to the beneficiaries from 2014 till 2021. Of those, only 60,250 houses were completed, 16,063 remained under progress and construction for 24,278 has not even taken off.
With backlog piled up, the department has not allocated a budget for new beneficiaries since 2021, an official in-charge of the scheme implementation said. The objective is to first clear the backlogs. Setting up new targets will only add to the burden, the official said.
All projects under the RGHCL, started in 2000, have failed in fulfilling the ‘housing for all by 2022’ target set by PM Narendra Modi in 2015. A few of the sub schemes are Basava Vasathi Housing Scheme, Dr BR Ambedkar Niwas Yojana and Ashraya Housing Scheme targeting different socially and economically weaker sections of the society.
Multiple sections of society including transgenders, people with disability, HIV patients and others have missed out on the scheme. Akkai Padmashali, a transgender activist, said that lack of coordination and negligence among officials have failed to benefit everyone. People have had bitter experiences while enquiring about registering under the scheme.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, 2022 had flagged many deficiencies including improper survey, duplication of beneficiaries, delay in fund dissemination and slow identification of targeted beneficiaries, that have deprived lakh of eligible people.
Only 13.72 lakh beneficiaries were identified till 2021 as against 20.35 lakh projected in the Karnataka Affordable Housing Policy. The CAG report also recommended forming strategic annual plans and ensuring they are done in time. The state government must follow all conditions to prevent late dissemination of funds.