BHUBANESWAR: Even as the State government has urged the Centre for sanction of additional 15 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), nearly 37,000 landless families and 8,575 families under Primitive and Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) have been waiting for long to get land under Vasundhara scheme.
The State government, though, has claimed to have provided four decimal of residential plots each to around 21,059 landless families since June 2020. While 57,257 homestead landless families were in the waiting list for allotment of housing plots last year, a review on Saturday revealed that 36,198 families are still residing in houses constructed on government lands.
As these families have constructed houses unauthorisedly on government land that fall under kisam (land type) and not fit for conversion for housing, the government had directed the Revenue department to find out a solution by revising the guidelines in consultation with Forest and Panchayati Raj departments.
Since the landless families listed in the waiting list of housing schemes are the poorest of poor, the government had decided to modify the existing norms to either regularise the land under their occupation or find suitable land to accommodate them. “It is easier said than done. It needs a policy decision. Departments whose land is under unauthorised occupation can not take any decision without approval of the government,” sources familiar with land laws said. The district collectors are also facing difficulty in identifying suitable land in areas where these landless families are required to be accommodated, they added.
As the delay in allotment of housing plots to landless families is defeating the cause of ‘Housing for All by 2022’, the Ministry of Rural Development had instructed the State government to buy land for these poor people.
Similar is the problem for sanction of housing assistance to the 8,575 PVTG families who are residing on forest land. “The State government has distributed a record number of land pattas to forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers under Forest Rights Act. Allotment of land for these 8,575 people should not be a big deal. This shows the lack of concern of the district administrations,” said tribal BJP MLA Mohan Majhi.
Housing help