BHUBANESWAR: The State government has made a budget provision of Rs 5,906 crore for rural housing scheme through convergence of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-Gramin) and Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) for the current financial year.
“Odisha has been a pioneering State in rural housing by providing shelter security through convergence of PMAY-Gramin and Biju Pucca Ghar schemes. I propose to provide about Rs 5,906 crore for 2022-23,” said Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari.
He said that another Rs 500 crore has been provided under the State scheme of Odisha Urban Housing Mission-AWAAS, an equivalent to PMAY-Urban. However, the Opposition BJP has been attacking the BJD government for claiming credit for the Centrally-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) by fixing Biju Patnaik logo on the houses of the beneficiaries while stopping funding for BPGY in the past years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned 8.17 lakh PMAY-Gramin houses in May 2021 against the demand for 14.94 lakh houses by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Over 10 lakh beneficiaries of the State are in the permanent waiting list for housing assistance.
The Centre has sanctioned Rs 3,810 crore including the State share of Rs 1,524 crore under the housing scheme for 2021-22. With an unspent balance of Rs 1,396.65 crore, the State had made a budgetary allocation of Rs 3,000 crore for rural housing. The Centre had released Rs 1,011.87 crore in last fiscal and the utilisation of the State was Rs 1,043.32 crore.