BHUBANESWAR: In the ongoing process for providing 'home for homeless', the state government on Friday sanctioned over five thousand new houses with an estimated project cost of around Rs 156.4 crore.
The decision was taken at the meeting of the state level sanctioning and monitoring committee of Odisha Urban Housing Mission (OUHM) presided over by chief secretary AP Padhi. So far, the state government has sanctioned 54,275 houses under the scheme in favour of economically weaker sections of the society living in 113 urban local bodies (ULBs).
The chief secretary directed the department to intensify the field level supervision and expedite the completion of the houses. He said officer wise target should be fixed at the level of the ULBs and progress should be monitored at a regular interval. It was decided that beneficiaries would be contacted every week to facilitate completion of the houses.
The chief secretary directed the urban department to make the fund release more comfortable and facilitating for the beneficiary. Accordingly, it was decided that henceforth Rs 40,000 would be released to the beneficiary at the level of foundation laying, Rs 60,000 would be released after completion of the plinth, Rs 60,000 would be released for roof casting and Rs 40,000 would be released for finishing including fixing of doors and windows, electrification and coloring.
Secretary in the urban development department G Mathi Vathanan said fund support to the beneficiaries is being provided within two days of the uploading of the photos of the houses under construction. Each house is also being geotagged. So far, Rs 103.5 crore has been released to the beneficiaries with zero pendency for payment at the OUHM level.
Director of OUHM, Suresh Chandra Dalai said from July, 2016 to May, 2017 around 29,797 houses were sanctioned in three phases. Till now work order has been issued against 24117 houses construction of which are different phases. Sanction order of additional 20,345 houses was communicated to ULBs during November 2017. The ULBS are preparing for the issue of work order after due verification of land details of the beneficiaries.