Notwithstanding the claim of the State Government of bringing up nearly 18.9 lakh new pucca houses under various schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) et al, the big fact is the State has completed a mere 5.44 lakh houses under the PMAY and the IAY during the period 2012-2018.
And under the State housing schemes like the BPGY, BPGY (Mining) and Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana (NSPGY), a total of around 2.8 lakh houses were completed till date. The total pucca houses constructed in the State from 2012 to till date, thus, was pegged at over 8.24lakh.
However, the revelation is Odisha has seen construction of a total of around 5.66 lakh pucca houses since 2014-18 against the claim of around 14.8 lakh houses by the State Government.
Of the around 5.66 lakh houses, Central schemes account for around 2.86lakh and State schemes add another around 2.8lakh.
As per the data sourced from AwaasSoft, a total of over 9.1lakh units of houses were sanctioned to Odisha for the period 2014-18 under various Central housing schemes, where a whopping around 7.36lakh sanctioned under PMAY — (Gramin) since its launch. The housing units thus constructed in Odisha during 2016-18 stood at mere 2.39lakh units only.
The break up shows when State saw construction of mere 443 housing units in 2016-17 against the target of over 3,96 lakh, the constructions have however picked pace and have crossed over 2.39 lakh against the target of 3.40lakh under PMAY-G in 2017-18.
Similarly, the data further revealed that when the Centre has sanctioned a total of over 2.53lakh housing units under PMAY to Odisha for the period 2018-19, the completion of houses till date stood at around 47,593 only.
In given context, the total houses constructed under all Central and State housing for poor schemes till date have been together totalled to around 8.24 lakh till date, not 18.9lakh as claimed by the Rural Housing website of the State Panchayati Raj Department.
Not only the PMAY — G, but the PMAY — Urban in Odisha is also progressing at a slow pace. Data sourced
from AwaasSoft reveals that when a total of 84,817 housing units were sanctioned under PMAY —U during 2016-18, the houses constructed stood at mere 2,372 and a total of another 41,994 were under construction. A district-wise glance reveals that Jajpur district with a completion of 561 such projects under PMAY — U topped the State and is followed by State Capital, Bhubaneswar (520) and Cuttack (379).
As per a study by ICICI securities, the NDA Government at Centre has set a target to build 1.35 crore houses under PMAY —G during the period 2017-19.
And of the target, the study elaborated that eastern region (Assam, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh) accounts for 52 per cent of the total target. Under the PMAY — G, the beneficiary identified as per SECC 2011 would avail Rs 1.3lakh for a pucca house through DBT (direct benefit transfer), Rs 12,000 for toilet construction under Swacch Bharat and Rs 18,000 under MNREGA, which is equivalent to 90-95 days wages.
Similarly, under the PMAY-U, the Centre would provide support to developers with land as resource to participate in slum rehabilitation and affordable housing to weaker sections through credit-linked subsidy, among the other schemes.