A report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development has found that just half of the houses, planned under phase I and phase II of the coveted Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) have been completed in the last five years. The panel, through its report on the scheme tabled in both the Houses on Thursday, urged the Centre to expedite the construction of houses to homeless and landless people.

Citing the data submitted by the Rural Development Ministry to the panel, the report said between 2016-17 and 2018-19, the Centre targeted construction of 99.94 lakh houses and completed 89.73 lakh units as on September 2, 2020) and the shortfall was 10 per cent of the target in phase I. “Against the Phase-II (2019-20 to 2021-22) target of 1.21 crore houses to be completed by 2021-2022, only 24.05 lakh were completed as on August 31, 2020. The combined Phase-I and Phase-II target of 2.21 crore houses, only 1.13 crore (51 per cent) have been completed under PMAY-G as on August 31,” the report said.

‘Spruce up strategy’

“The Committee, therefore, desire that the Ministry should spruce up their strategy in the manner that the shortcomings, behind shortfall in targets are resolved and pendency of Phase-I targets is expedited, also the achievements in the Phase-II are geared up in a coordinated manner for cent per cent achievement besides ensuring supply of real-time figures to the Committee for examination,” the report said.

After examining the budget estimates (BE), the revised estimates (RE) and the actual expenditure incurred under PMAY-G, the panel said the finances for the scheme is sourced from Gross Budgetary Resources and Extra Budgetary Resources. “The study reveals that the actual expenditure incurred for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 is over and above the BE and RE. For Phase – I of PMAY-G, the Union Cabinet approved an EBR of ₹21,975 crore, of which ₹18,008 crore was sourced from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and under Phase II for the year 2019-20, Ministry of Finance approved EBR of ₹20,000 crore of which ₹ 10,811 crore was again sourced from Nabard. The central share for construction of 70 lakh houses for the current fiscal, 2020-21 is ₹57,330 crore, out of which ₹ 19,500 crore has been provided as the GBS and the balance is to be met through EBR,” the report said and added that the steps taken by the Ministry on availability of funds for the Scheme has obtained positive response from the Government ensuring availability of funds for the programme.

Also read: Govt funding key to achieving housing for all by 2022: ICRA

The panel also found instances of non- release of Central share to some of States/UTs owing to non receipt of utilisation certificates, under utilisation of funds, non issue of the second instalment of the previous year or non receipt of proposals from the State Governments. “The lackadaisical approach of the Ministry on the ongoing scheme targeted to accomplish the goal set by 2022, is remotely possible,” the report said.

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