Construction of 34,474 houses by March: Khemchand
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, February 27 2023: RD&PR minister Yumnam Khemchand said that the government is targeting to complete construction of 34,474 houses under Housing for All (rural) scheme by the end of March.

He gave the information during the discussion on demand for grant of RD&PR department in the State assembly session on Monday while responding to policy cut motion moved by opposition member K Ranjit.

The minister told the House that the scheme is being implemented in the state effectively and 46,166 beneficiaries applied for housing assistance.

Out of these, 42,916 houses were sanctioned.

So far, Rs 80.51 crore fund for phase 1 has been released from the Centre for which the state share is around Rs 8 crore and the same has been released too.

First instalment has been released for 7684 houses, second for 3836 houses and third for 20,242 houses.

So far, 19,174 houseshave been completed.

The main reason behind the inability to meet the target is delay in submission of required documents by the beneficiaries, he said.

The minister confided that fund for second tranche will be released soon and the government will take up proactive measures for meeting the target.

As for rejected applicants, the beneficiaries are selected based on SECC data and as such there was no provision to extend assistance to applicants not covered by the SECC data.

However, latest policy allows coverage of poor families, who are not in the SECC data by furnishing some documents.

The scheme, which was introduced in 2016, was originally targeted for completion in 2022 but the Centre has extended the deadline till 2024, he said.

Regarding the pending fund for MGNREGS, the minister acknowledged the pendency and said that the pendency began from 2014 in order to maintain certain balance in the state exchequer to prevent RBI ban.

This is not a new matter.

He further told the House that Rs 450 crore fund for MGNREGS is in the treasury account and the government will release the same on March 1 or 2.The minister thanked opposition member K Meghachandra for playing the role of constructive opposition with his intervention in PMGSY roads.

People in hill areas are now having a feeling that the government will definitely complete PMGSY road projects if MLA Meghachandra visits to access the ground reality and brings up the matter in the public domain.

The minister further said that the second phase of PMGSY ended in September last year but it was extended till March this year under a mutual understanding.

The main reason for failure in meeting the deadline is due to rainfall activities from April to September.

Despite the inclement weather, the department completed 1140 km of road projects and 49 bridges.

Project execution for the remaining 2239 km will be expedited.

Contracts for all PMGSY road projects are awarded to local contractors.

So far, two executive engineers and two assistant engineers have been suspended for fund misappropriation.

Moreover, pension benefits for one retired EE have been blocked and FlRs registered against two contractors, he revealed.

He further said that signboards for PMGSY projects erected at the time of commencing project contain commencement date and completion target date among other details.

However, extension date, if any, are not added in the signboards, which often leads to miscommunication among the public, he said and added that instruction had been issued to include extension date if any.

As for projects in hill areas requiring hill cutting, PMGSY projects are divided, wherever necessary, into two packages - one for hill cutting and one for blacktopping, he added.

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