Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) are unable to build houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana as they cannot contribute to their share in the scheme.
By Swati Ekka
Despite a working Pradhan Mantri Yojna in place, people fail to reap the benefits because they fail to pay a sum of Rs 50,000 which the scheme demands from them.
Under PMAY scheme, the Government has to provide houses worth Rs 5 lakh each to the EWS from which Rs1.5 lakh is sponsored by the central government, Rs 1.5 lakh is contributed by state government, Rs 1.5 lakh is taken as loan by the beneficiary while the remaining sum of Rs 50,000 is also contributed by them.
Sri V. Chandrappa, Executive Engineer of KSDB said, “The beneficiaries are supposed to contribute Rs 50,000 from their part which they are not able to arrange on time which causes a delay in the process.”
Uday, a daily wage labourer who lives in Swathanthra Nagar Slum said, “I have a family of 12, and we somehow manage to survive in one room and a bathroom. We cook outside as there is no space for the kitchen.I had filed the application in 2017. The department has not taken any initiative to rebuild my house till now as I was unable to pay the minimum amount of Rs 50,000 as per the scheme.”
According to KSDB the government had issued work orders in Swathantra Nagar slum of Shivaji nagar area in May, 2018. It had sanctioned Rs 2740 lakhs to construct 500 houses in the area, under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), but there is no progress till now.
P.Babu, a security guard in Apollo hospital and a resident of Swathantra nagar said, “It has been two years since I have filed an application with KSDB. We are a family of six members and we will be happy if our house gets constructed as soon as possible.”
About 77 applications were recieved and Rs. 308 lakh was sanctioned for construction of houses in 2017-18 and no applications are received by BBMP (Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) in the year 2018-19
The central government have launched many schemes for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) but still there are many people who are not able to avail the benefit of the scheme.
Keeping in line with PMAY scheme, the Karnataka government has set a target to construct an additional two lakh affordable housing units by 2022 to provide shelter to people from economically Weaker Section.
Narasimha Murthy, Convener of Janandolan slum of Karnataka, said, “The housing secretary will start building these low cost houses as soon it receives funds from PMAY. There is a lack of coordination between the centre and state and thus there has been a delay in the process.”
