Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who was the first CM in the country to hail Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move, is now in the belief that the Centre’s step has caused hardships not only for farmers but also for poor rural housing beneficiaries in Odisha.
Two days after writing to the PM elaborating him about the inconvenience being faced by the farmers due to short supply of currency notes, Patnaik on Friday again wrote to the PM requesting him to remove the withdrawal limit from bank accounts for rural housing beneficiaries citing that the limit may pose as an obstacle in achieving the rural housing goal of the State Government.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Patnaik said, “Odisha has succeeded in completing about 1.4 lakh houses under various Rural Housing Schemes, both Centrally Sponsored and State funded, during the current financial year and aims at achieving 5 lakh completion by March 31, 2017.”
“Timely release of instalments to the beneficiaries, among others initiatives taken up by State, plays a pivotal role in successful implementation of these schemes,” said Patnaik
The Chief Minster said the total sanctioned amount is released in four installments to the beneficiaries in Odisha.
While the first installment stands at Rs 20,000, the second from Rs 30,000/Rs 35,000, the third from Rs 40,000/Rs 45,000 and the fourth stands at Rs 30,000.
“Thus, the first installment of Rs 20,000 is within the limit of withdrawal from bank account set by the RBI post demonetisation, but the rest three others go beyond the stipulated limit of withdrawal. Hence, the limit of withdrawal from bank account not only causes inconvenience to the poor beneficiaries of these schemes, but also has been a dampener to our goal of completing 5 lakh houses during this financial year,” added Patnaik.
“Kindly waive out the financial limit of withdrawal in respect of the beneficiaries of PMAY-G, Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana, IAY and others State funded Rural Housing Schemes in the interest of the poor rural housing beneficiaries and success of the schemes,” Patnaik urged.