BHUBANESWAR: With the opposition questioning the veracity of the State Government’s claim on rural housing figure, Chief Secretary AP Padhi on Thursday directed the Collectors to ensure geo-tagging of all houses constructed under different schemes by August 31.
Reviewing the district-wise progress of rural housing schemes over video conferencing with Collectors and project directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs), Padhi directed them to firmly implement all transparency measures and closely monitor the field level execution. He further asked them to adhere to the practice of making public display of the priority list at panchayat and village levels. There should not be any deviation from the priority list while sanctioning new housing units to the beneficiaries.
The directive of the Chief Secretary came after detection of irregularities in selection of beneficiaries in several districts. The Centre has sent a team of officers to Mahanga block of Cuttack district following complaint from public.
Over 12.34 lakh housing units have been completed under different schemes like Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, India Awas Yojana and Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana.
Target has been set to complete around six lakh houses during the current year, Panchayati Raj Secretary DK Singh told media persons. Singh advised the collectors to ensure timely payment of bills and incentives to the beneficiaries.
The Government has declared an incentive of Rs. 20,000 to the beneficiaries who completed their houses within four months of the issue of work order and Rs.10,000 for completion within six months. Around 28,000 beneficiaries have been provided incentive for timely completion of their houses, Singh said.
Each of the beneficiaries is being facilitated to create one livelihood asset through convergence with MGNREGS and National Rural Livelihood Mission. They will be provided assistance to construct assets like cowshed, goat-shed and vermin compost unit on their land as an additional source of livelihood. The programme has been started from Khurda and Balangir districts on an experimental basis, Singh said.