BHUBANESWAR: The State is seriously lagging behind the target for construction of houses under Indira Awaas Yojana and Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana.
Even as the State Government claimed to have completed 16.81 per cent of the total number of houses sanctioned under the Centrally sponsored scheme by the end of May, a report of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) said only 7.14 per cent of the annual target was achieved till April, 2015.
While the report of the Assembly standing committee on Panchayati Raj Department said 1,21,742 houses were completed by December, 2014 with utilisation of Rs 882.62 crore out of the budgetary provision of Rs 1,169.24 crore for 2014-15, the MoRD report stated that the physical achievement of the State Government by end of April, 2015 is only 11,000 units.
The State Government had set a target to construct 1.61 lakh houses in the last financial year for which the Centre had released Rs 684 crore out of an allocation of Rs 876.93 crore. The total utilisation of fund by the end of April was Rs 67.51 crore.
Sources in the Panchayati Raj Department said over four lakh houses, including spillovers of previous years, are under construction. A review by Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Arun Sahu last month said 46.65 per cent and 16.81 per cent houses were completed under IAY in 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively.
According to MoRD, the physical achievements in 2012-13 and 2013-14 were 82.95 per cent and 85.78 per cent. The housing targets for 2012-13 and 2013-14 were 1.55 lakh and 1.28 lakh units and the achievements were 1.29 lakh and 1.10 lakh units respectively.
There are conflicting reports on the progress of the rural housing programme under State plan scheme, the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana. The Assembly committee report said 36,479 houses have been constructed by December, 2014 in the last fiscal with utilisation of Rs 264.47 crore.
Contrary to the report of the departmentally related standing committee, the progress report available in the official website of the Panchayati Raj Department said only 1008 houses were completed by January, 2015 while 71,234 houses are under construction.
In 2015-16, the Centre has indicated to provide financial assistance of Rs 591.44 crore under IAY for construction of 1.61 lakh housing units. However, the physical target for the current fiscal is tentative pending a final decision on the fund sharing pattern between the Centre and the State, sources said.