The Maharashtra government has come under sharp criticism from the Centre over tardy progress on its flagship schemes for rural housing, job creation and poverty alleviation.
A delegation from the Union Ministry of Rural Development, led by joint secretary Prasant Kumar, categorically informed the government on Wednesday it expected Maharashtra to lead from front in the implementation of three major schemes: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY-G), National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Facing deadlines
But the State does not even figure in the top five rankings for the schemes; neither is it near 100% completion in all three.
The State must pull up socks to meet the next set of deadlines coming up in December, State officials were told. The delegation was on a day-long visit to assess the State's progress in implementing the rural schemes.
The worst performance was reported in the PMAY-G, where the GoI delegation pointed out a lag of 2 lakh homes. Maharashtra has a lowly ninth rank with just 64% completion rate in the scheme. The GoM is expected to complete a target of 3.5 lakh homes by December 2019 but has so far completed only 1.5 lakh of the targeted units. The government is left with a tough task of completing this year’s target of 70,000 units in just four months starting September.
“We estimate constructing a 269 sq. ft unit in 90 days if one person is put on the construction job. Going by this pace, it will be impossible to meet the target. The ministry expects us to complete at least 1 lakh more units by this time of the year,” said a secretary in the government.
Major hurdles
The State government pointed out to the delegation the hindrances in the use of ministry's new integrated system, SOFT, for the delay in uploading data.
The hurdles in finding land and fund transfers to the beneficiaries too were creating hurdles, the delegation was told. Mainly, the government machinery lost focus while trying to complete targets under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, State officials informed the delegation from New Delhi.
The progress under NLRM and MGNREGA was also found to be slow. The delegation directed the State to start work on a war footing after the monsoon to meet its December targets. The NLRM is a poverty alleviation project implemented by GoI, focused on promoting self-employment and organisation of the rural poor. Under the PMAY-G, 269 sq-ft homes are provided to rural poor.