Over 12 lakh houses provided to rural beneficiaries: Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Sep 22 : The Odisha government has so far provided 12.76 lakh houses to beneficiaries under different rural housing schemes since 2014-15, an official said on Friday.

Completion of construction of houses for the rural poor during the current financial year has crossed 1.42 lakh, taking the total completion figure to 12,76,124 since 2014-15 financial year, the official said.

Taking a review meeting of district-wise progress, Chief Secretary A.P. Padhi directed all collectors and project directors to scale up construction activities for achievement of 100 per cent of the target given to each district.

Padhi also asked them to curb alleged unethical practices being followed during implementation of the rural housing schemes and take visible action against those found guilty of corrupt practices.

Panchayati Raj Secretary Deoranjan Kumar Singh said a target had been set to complete around 6.5 lakh houses during the year 2017-18.

So far, around 1,42,902 houses have been completed and construction of other houses has been expedited.

The completed houses include 22,730 houses under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana, 5,430 units under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (Mining), 991 houses under the Nirman Sramik Pucca Ghar Yojana, 19,056 under the Indira Awas Yojana and 94,695 houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

Development Commissioner R. Balakrishnan advised the collectors to work out a break-up of the targets with detailed planning.

He also suggested fixing specific targets for each employee engaged in the task and take up a daily review of the progress through WhatsApp or SMS.

The government had declared an incentive of Rs 20,000 to the beneficiaries who completed their houses within four months from the issue of work order and Rs 10,000 for completion within six months of the work order.