All is not well in PM Avas Yojana Scheme

Anantapur: The Central Government scheme dubbed as 'Housing For All' gives hopes for various sections of people, including the middle class people. But the scheme is reportedly influenced by political leaders in the districts and they are awarding these houses to their followers and as a result, beneficiaries under BPL (below poverty line) category are getting raw deal. Government's delay in releasing funds and selection of fake beneficiaries are diluting the scheme. 

The Central government scheme was devised to benefit the people in the income group of Rs 3 lakhs to Rs 6 lakhs per annum. In the just concluded financial year 2017-18, as many as 18,728 houses had been allotted under the PM Avas Yojana  scheme, out of which 17,465 beneficiaries were given administrative sanctions. Of the sanctioned houses,12,828 were grounded,  but by the end of the year, only 22 per cent were completed.

There are multiple reasons for non-completion of houses,  including delay in releasing funs by the government to the district. Moreover, beneficiaries also fail to give their share for house construction. Most of the houses were sanctioned to ineligible persons. They were sanctioned due to pressure from people’s representatives in the district. In the process genuine BPL families were ignored. It is mostly the followers of ruling party MLAs, MPs and MLCs who dictate terms to the officers. 

Obulakonda of Raptadu mandal, who applied for a house under the BPL scheme, was denied  a house because he had voted for the opposition party. His name was deliberately removed by the ruling party MLA. There is a feeling that only ruling party loyalists could benefit from government schemes. Rajasekhar, another resident of the mandal demanded that houses should be sanctioned to all on eligibility basis irrespective of one's political affiliation.

Housing project director D Selvaraj told 'The Hans India' that the state government is yet to release Rs.60 crore due to the district. This is one reason why some beneficiaries could not make headway in their houses construction. The second reason being beneficiaries, due to personal problems, could not pay their share of contribution. The Centre has been delaying the release of  funds to the state. 

The houses sanctioned for the 2018-19 year is 15,563 out of the allotted 19,250 houses. This year as many as 9,913 new houses have been grounded while 5,650 houses are yet to be grounded. However, doubts persist among many people whether the scheme would benefit middle income sections.

"Various governments, since independence, never implemented schemes to benefit middle-income sections who promptly pay their taxes to government. The government's vote bank politics overshadowed these classes, says a government pensioner Rajiv Reddy who lives in a rented house and struggles for living hood. 

The spokesperson of 'Caring People Foundation', an NGO Indira says that the government housing corporation should not be confined to the poor, but should design houses for lower and  middle class sections on the lines of ' Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority' which has devised schemes such as Lower income group houses, Middle income group houses and Higher income group houses. Housing Corporation Project Director Selvaraj stated, the scheme is strictly for the homeless. 

By Ravi P Benjamin