Odisha targets 6 lakh house construction in 2017-18 fiscal

Setting a target to complete 6 lakh units under different rural housing schemes during the current fiscal, Odisha government has announced incentive of Rs 20,000 each to beneficiaries who complete construction work within four months.

The decision in this regard was taken at a review meeting of the rural housing schemes presided over by chief secretary A P Padhi.

"Odisha is a leading state in implementation of the rural housing schemes. The state has so far completed construction of 12.18 lakh house units since 2014-15," said Panchayati Raj secretary DRK Singh.

Singh said at least 85,000 houses under different rural housing schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana have so far been completed in 2017. While the rate of house completion has been increased from 300 per day to 644 per day, the chief secretary has asked to keep a target to complete 3,000 houses every day.
 

Padhi also asked district collectors to ensure hanging of beneficiaries lists on the wall of gram panchayat office for better transparency and reduce corruption.

Meanwhile, Singh informed that the state government has earmarked Rs 5,000 crore for the rural housing schemes this year and similar budgetary provisions to be made in subsequent years. While Rs 1.30 lakh is being given to the beneficiaries to construct house in Integrated Action Plan *IAP) areas, the people in non-IAP districts get Rs 1.20 lakh for the purpose.

However, the meeting felt that many people do not complete their houses for a long time despite issuance of work orders. Therefore, Singh said the government has announced incentive for early completion of houses. While Rs 20,000 cash incentive is given to the beneficiaries who complete house construction within four months, Rs 10,000 cash incentive will be given for those complete houses within six months.

This apart, Rs 12,000 is also being provided to the beneficiaries for construction of toilets under Swachha Bharat scheme.