Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday allocated Rs 603.39 crore as the Tamil Nadu government’s share towards the construction of 88,436 houses under the Indira Awaas Yojana Scheme during the current financial year.
The CM also hiked the unit cost for each house from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.20 lakh. Of this, the Centre’s share will be Rs 52,500 per house and State’s share would be Rs 67,500. Indira Awaas Yojana, which used to be a component of Jawahar Rozgar Yojana became an independent Scheme from 1997-1998 onwards.
At least 60 per cent of the total IAY allocation during a financial year should be utilised for construction/ upgradation of dwelling units for SC/ST BPL rural households. A maximum 40 per cent of allocation is for non SC/ST BPL rural households. Three per cent of the above categories should be allocated for physically and mentally challenged persons. The Government has also asked the States to earmark 15 per cent of the beneficiaries from minorities.
Upto 2011-12, the unit cost of the house constructed under Indira Awaas Yojana was Rs 45,000. Out of this, the Central share was Rs 33,750 and the State’s share was Rs 11,250. Apart from this, the State government has been providing Rs 30,000 towards RCC Roofing cost. After assuming office in 2011, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hiked the roofing cost to Rs 55,000. Thus, the total unit cost of for each house was fixed at Rs 1 lakh. Now, she has further hiked the unit cost of each house to Rs 1.2 lakh. The objective of the scheme is to construct free houses for members of the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes, freed bonded labourers in rural areas and for rural poor living below the poverty line. The beneficiaries are selected from the BPL list approved by the Grama Sabha.