NORTH LAKHIMPUR, July 24 - Progress of work under the Prime Minister�s Awas Yojana (PMAY) and involving release of funds for housing to the poor rural population has been marred by incompletion and very slow pace of work within the district.
The Lakhimpur District Rural Development Department set a target of 2,694 houses for the rural poor during 2017-18 and funds for 1,601 were sanctioned in nine rural development Blocks under the PMAY scheme.
However, only one house was completed so far in the entire district. Only one beneficiary in Nowboisa Development Block completed construction of the house after receiving all the three instalments.
The PMAY scheme provides Rs 1.3 lakh to beneficiaries for the construction of permanent houses in rural areas. Under this scheme, funds are released in three instalments and credited to their savings bank accounts.
The first instalment consists of Rs 32,500, while the second instalment is of Rs 78,000, while the third one is of Rs 19,500. The second and third instalments are released on the basis of progress of construction work. In addition to this, wages of 25 days consisting of Rs 189 per day is also credited to the beneficiary�s savings bank account.
Out of the 1,601 houses for which funds were sanctioned, beneficiaries of 1,291 houses received the first instalment, while 538 houses got the second instalment and 22 houses received the third instalment.
Release of funds for PMAY houses in Lakhimpur district is also uneven in all the nine development Blocks. In Dhakuakhana Development Block, 277 beneficiaries received the first instalment of funds, while 110 got the second one too. No beneficiary received the third instalment of the housing fund.
Similarly, no beneficiaries from the development Blocks of Bogeenadi and Telahi have received the third instalment of sanctioned funds for PMAY houses. Only 3 beneficiaries from North Lakhimpur Development Block, 2 from Bihpuria and 16 from Nowboisa Development Block received the third instalment of the housing scheme.
