The Union Rural Development Ministry (MoRD) on Wednesday said that it has achieved its target of 10 lakh houses under the flagship housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana within the stipulated time.

Encouraged by its performance, the Ministry said that it is expected to complete 15 lakh houses by December 31, 25 lakh houses by January, 31, 2018; 35 lakh houses by February 28, 2018 and 51 lakh houses by March 31, 2018.

The Modi Government has set a target of completing one crore new houses by March 31, 2019. The Ministry in a statement here said the houses were completed within time mainly due to direct payment of

financial assistance into the beneficiary accounts and by providing quality training of house construction to rural masons.

These houses are changing the countryside at a faster pace and are equipped with facilities such as toilet, lPG connection, electricity connection, drinking water etc.

The homeless and those living in a ‘kuccha’ room with ‘kuccha’ roof or two ‘kuccha’ rooms with ‘kuccha’ roof are the beneficiaries of this pro-poor PMAY (rural) scheme, which was launched in June 2015.

Under it, the government envisages building affordable ‘pucca’ houses with water facility, sanitation and electricity supply round-the-clock.

The homes are designed by the best of institutions after studying the existing local design typologies and are constructed by beneficiaries as per their needs.

The payment for construction of the houses is directly transferred into the accounts of the beneficiaries.

To ensure transparency and check corruption, the Centre has set up an online platform where any person can see the construction of homes with geo-tagged photographs and complete details of beneficiaries and payments made to them.