Pucca house a distant dream for beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana

Those falling under the criteria had even received one or two instalments of the payment for the construction of the houses, however, few years down the line, the scheme seems to have progressed at snail's pace at some areas, and halted altogether at others.

Shahdol:Under the 'Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana' launched in 2015, the Prime Minister had promised affordable housing to the lower and mid-income groups in urban areas by 2022.

Those falling under the criteria had even received one or two instalments of the payment for the construction of the houses, however, few years down the line, the scheme seems to have taken snail's pace at some areas, and halted altogether at others.

• Incomplete dreams and houses

In the Shahdol municipal area many who got named for the PM housing scheme say, they received the first instalment after which the demolished their old mud houses to build a new house, but sadly, the second instalment has not been released yet, halting the construction completely. Years have now gone by and these beneficiaries make do with the broken and incomplete houses.

• Forced to live in a rented house

The situation is now so that some people are forced to live a rented house, some stay in a house with no roof or some stay in a congested one-room house with a large family. All of them waiting for the instalments to come and construction to begin of their houses. While some are hopeful that the money will come, others, not so much.

• ETV Bharat reveals shocking figures

When the team of ETV Bharat found out how many beneficiaries are there in Shahdol municipal area who got the first instalment for PM housing, but not the second instalment, the figures were shocking. There are 1,116 beneficiaries who have not received the second instalment indicating so far they have received only one lakh rupees. Not only this, there are 837 beneficiaries who got the first and second instalment, but the third instalment is still awaited. 703 new applications for PM housing have also come in which only 409 people have got the approval.

• Joke with the poor?

Municipal vice-president Kuldeep Nigam says that the Prime Minister has announced his very ambitious housing scheme, in which it was said that by 2021-22, housing would be provided to all the poor. But unfortunately, the instalment for the last two years have been stalled forcing the poor to live in rented houses or other makeshift facilities.

• Dream of a pucca house

In a touching story from ward number-7 of the area, a teenager girl who wanted to see her pucca house died before she could live her dream. Many like her who dreamed of having their own house after the scheme was announced are now left in a lurch. All they hope now is for the authorities to go ahead and release the pending funds.

• Municipal CMO's statements

Shahdol Municipal CMO Amit Tiwari said many people who received the first and second instalment of the funds did not start the construction of their houses. Now, the authorities are planning to send a notice to these people, if even after that they do not start using the funds for the construction, an FIR will be launched against them.

For the rest of the 70 per cent people in the area, Tiwari said geo-tagging has not been done. Once the tagging is done, the pending instalments would be released.