Prime Minister’s housing scheme has completely failed on the ground says Kumari Selja

Published Date: 24-02-2025 | 12:39 pm

Chandigarh: The General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, former Union Minister, and Member of Parliament from Sirsa Kumari Selja said that on April 1, 2016, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin. The objective of this scheme was to provide permanent homes to those without shelter or living in slums by 2022. However, this scheme has completely failed on the ground. Under the Congress government in Haryana, the poor were provided 100 square-yard plots free of cost, but today, the BJP government is giving plots of only 30 or 50 square yards, and that too at collector rates. The BJP must fulfill every promise made to the public.

In a statement released to the media, Kumari Selja said that the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin aimed to build 1.1 crore houses in its first phase, but only 34 lakh houses have been built. She said that in 1996, the Indira Awas Yojana was introduced to provide permanent homes to the country’s poor, under which free 100 square-yard plots were given to poor families. Not only that, but the government also ensured that possession of the plots was granted, and funds were made available to build homes. However, after the BJP government came into power, they did not pay attention to this. The government introduced the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin in 2016 with the objective of providing permanent homes to those without shelter or those living in slums by 2022, but the poor still haven’t received homes.

Kumari Selja said that the Haryana BJP government started the Chief Minister’s Rural Housing Scheme for families with an annual income of up to 1.8 lakh rupees, as verified by the family identity card. The scheme promised 50 square-yard plots in Mahagram Panchayats and 100 square-yard plots in Gram Panchayats. In the first phase, 2,415 Gram Panchayats were identified where common land is available. The government itself has admitted that it has provided plots to 4,533 families through 62 Gram Panchayats (61 general Gram Panchayats and one Mahagram Panchayat), but there has been no attention given to the remaining Gram Panchayats. In urban areas, where 30 square-yard plots were allocated, the government is charging for these plots. This is a betrayal of the public.

Kumari Selja said that the schemes started during the Congress government to provide homes to the needy were discontinued. In 2013, under the Rajiv Gandhi Residential Scheme in Sirsa, more than a thousand houses were to be built at Khajakedha, for which then Minister Girija Vyas laid the foundation stone, and 95 crore rupees were allocated for the first installment. However, the BJP government took no steps in this regard, and the allocated funds were later transferred to another state. If the government had truly been committed to providing homes to the needy, over a thousand families would have been living in those houses today. The BJP government must take steps to fulfill its promises to the public.

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