‘Makaan mil jayega na, Sachiv ji?’ — this famous dialogue now from an old woman in the web-series ‘Panchayat’ underlined the fascination in rural India for a pucca house under the popular Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana.
But the Amma-ji of ‘Panchayat’ is not alone in rattling all cages to try get a house under the scheme. The central government has been virtually flooded this year with over 5.5 lakh grievances received this year so far from villagers across the country for a house under the scheme. These are essentially requests and representations for a new house and many want to know when their name will be included in the ‘Permanent Waiting List’ for a house.
Over one lakh grievances came in July, while nearly 4.5 lakh grievances regarding the scheme came in the first six months this year, shows the latest data with News18. The number is many times more than the applications for any other central or state scheme on the grievances portal. Citizens complain of issues such as beneficiary selection, inclusion states and seek assistance in filing their request.
Increasing the interest in the popular scheme is apparently the announcement in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto earlier this year that two crore more houses will be sanctioned under the scheme, which the Union Cabinet has also approved. The initial target till March 2024 was building 2.95 crore houses, of which about 2.65 crore have been built. The challenge now is the full roll-out of the five crore houses.
Pace of ‘Vote-Catcher’ Scheme
The USP of the scheme is that a beneficiary is provided Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 1.3 lakh under the scheme by the government to construct his or her pucca house in a village. A further loan of Rs 70,000 is also facilitated if the beneficiary so desires. The money is transferred electronically to the beneficiary once identified based on the housing deficiency and other social deprivation parameters, and verified by the respective Gram Sabhas.
The scheme was started in 2016 with the objective of ‘Housing for All’ by March, 2024 in villages across the country. In the first phase, one crore houses were
taken up for construction in three years, i.e., 2016-17 to 2018-19. In phase 2, till March 2024, 2.95 crore houses were to be completed and around 2.65 crore total houses have been handed over to the beneficiaries.
Interestingly, 3.25 crore people in all have applied for the houses so far till March 2024 (more than the sanctioned number of 2.95 crore), prompting the Centre to now approve two crore more houses under the popular scheme.
Most grievances are due to people feeling they have been left out during the selection of beneficiaries, and not being included in the ‘Permanant Waiting List’. The government has tried to ensure that assistance is targeted at those who are genuinely deprived and that the selection is objective and verifiable, and has also put in place an appellate process to address grievances in beneficiary selection.
With the increased targets and a tremendous demand for the scheme in villages, reflected in the volume of grievances reaching the Centre in 2024, work is cut out for the Centre and state governments to fulfill expectations of villagers. The scheme has also been a major vote-catcher for the BJP, making delivery under it more imperative.
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