 "Construction, workers, housing, residential property")
The Housing Department has appealed to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for immediate release of Rs 2,361 crore to make progress in the construction of houses under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (Urban) in the state.
The Government of India has already released Rs 4,032 crore under PMAY-U so far in the 2022-23 financial year but the AP government released only Rs 2,556 crore of the grant to the Housing Department, diverting another Rs 1,476 crore.
Besides, of its proportionate share of Rs 1,389 crore, the state released only Rs 504 crore so far but stopped the balance citing "resource crunch", a senior official said.
Payment of Rs 755 crore, including Rs 324 crore to the beneficiaries, has been pending, severely hampering the progress of the scheme.
Over the last few years, the Centre sanctioned 16,84,502 houses to AP under PMAY-U but only 13,92,855 have been taken up for construction so far, the official added.
AP, which tops the country drawing over 57 per cent of the total PMAY-U grant this year, is expecting to get a total of Rs 5,000 crore.
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"The remaining Central share of Rs 1,476 crore and the state share of Rs 885 crore have to be released immediately to get the next instalment from the Centre in December, Housing Department officials told the Chief Minister at a high-level review meeting here on Wednesday.
Housing department officials said Rs 324 crore has to be paid to the PMAY-U beneficiaries and another Rs 311 crore for land acquisition and land levelling work. Also, Rs 120 crore has to be paid for drinking water supply works taken up under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Meanwhile, officials also told the Chief Minister that the progress of the housing programme has been vastly affected in the last few months due to various factors.
While non-availability of funds is the main reason, "relentless rains" (20 per cent excess) have also compounded the crisis.
Bad roads across the state have affected movement of vehicles carrying construction material to various places.
"Workability has been adversely affected because of this," the Housing department officials told Reddy.
Sand, a critical input, is in short supply. Stocks available in various depots have "exhausted" and refilling has not been possible as sand reaches remained non-operational because of floods.
The state government planned to organise a massive function on December 21 to mark the completion of about five lakh houses but it could now be held only after January next year.
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