Orissa government sitting on funds

BHUBANESWAR: More than 86 per cent houses under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) have remained incomplete in 14 districts while no allotment was made for Jagatsinghpur district in 2010-11.  The Government has a set target to construct over three lakh houses in 2010-11, including 1,35,146 houses spilled over from the previous financial year. However, little over 1.71 lakh houses could be completed by the end of 2010-11 financial year. The annual target of the current financial year was 2,52,377 houses, including 1,10,295 houses under construction during the last financial year. As per the latest report, 1,06,608 houses were under construction while only 4,461 houses were completed by end of May. Funds available with the Government for the rural housing scheme for the current fiscal was Rs 655.40 crore, including outstanding balance of Rs 192.53 crore. The total expenditure by the end of May was Rs 13.56 crore which was six per cent of the total fund.The performance of the Government was no better during the corresponding period in 2009-10. The utilisation of fund was only seven per cent. Only 2,314 houses were completed out of the annual target of 2,86,282 and Rs 17.17 crore was utilised out of available fund of Rs 233.51 crore.