CHANDIGARH: A Punjab Vidhan Sabha committee has recommended a hike in financial assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, asserting that an amount of Rs 1.20 lakh was not enough for the construction of a house.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, a financial assistance of Rs 1.20 lakh is given to eligible beneficiaries for the construction of a house by the Centre. The assistance is paid in three instalments.
On the first day of the two-day Punjab Vidhan Sabha session which began here on Monday, a report of the Vidhan Sabha committee regarding the ongoing Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana in the state was tabled by AAP MLA Budh Ram, who was the chairman of the committee on Panchayati Raj Institutions.
A total target of 63,985 houses has been allocated by the Centre to all Panchayats in Punjab, including beneficiaries of the PMAY-G.
Among the recommendations, the committee in its report stated that it has come to its notice that the central government provides an amount of Rs 1,20,000 for the construction of a house but the committee feels that the amount is inadequate.
“With such an amount, building a good house is very difficult. The raw materials required to build a house have also become very expensive these days,” the report said.
It has also come to the attention of the committee that under another scheme launched by the central government — Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan, an amount of Rs 2 lakh is provided for the construction of a house.
“Keeping such facts in mind, the committee strongly recommends that the state government should approach the central government to increase this amount so that the beneficiaries can build a good house,” said the report.
The committee feels that elected representatives of the people, the MLAs, have a direct relationship with the villages and they know how many people in a village do not have their own houses, the report said.
But the team which visits villages to identify beneficiaries under this scheme, the concerned MLAs are neither informed nor taken into consideration when a survey is conducted, according to the report.
Therefore, the committee strongly recommends that the team which is to survey villages under this scheme should contact the MLA of the constituency that it visits so that the elected representative can be made a part of the survey, it said.
The committee also stated that many villages in Punjab are not covered under this scheme due to which beneficiaries are deprived of benefits.
Therefore, the committee strongly recommends that all villages should be covered in the survey, it said.
Source Homevior.in
