The State Government would shortly launch a Shelter Security Mission with a cost of Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 crore, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced here on Tuesday.
“The mission will be directly monitored by me and it will encompass both urban and rural areas,” Patnaik said inaugurating a two-day conference of the district Collectors at the State Secretariat.
He said the Government would convert all the kutcha houses in the State to pucca houses in five years under the mission, which would require construction of more than five lakh houses every year.
Stating that a task of this scale requires huge mobilisation of resources, manpower, a scientific and innovative implementation strategy and precise monitoring and execution, he said his Government would leave no stone unturned in mobilising funds for this mission.
Admitting that one of the bottlenecks in implementation of rural housing schemes is the completion ratio, the Chief Minister said to overcome this and facilitate speedy completion of houses with an objective of ‘zero incomplete houses’, the Government decided to provide a cash incentive of Rs10,000 for houses that are completed within four months from the date of issue of work order and release of first instalment. Of this, Rs9,000 would go to the beneficiary who can utilise this for purchase of household articles for the completed house purely as per her/his choice, while the remaining Rs1,000 would go to the Government functionaries who have monitored and supervised the construction work.
Those who complete houses in six months’ time can get a cash incentive of Rs5,000 out of which Rs500 would go to the Government functionaries who have monitored and supervised the construction work.
Besides, cash incentive and awards would be instituted for gram panchayats, blocks and districts performing well in the Biju Pucca Ghar scheme. An untied fund of Rs10 lakh to Rs30 lakh would be provided annually to each district Collector basing on the number of blocks in the district.
This fund can be utilised by the Collectors for innovations that would help in effective implementation of the scheme. They can also use this fund for improving, monitoring and as incentives to those ‘persons/agencies who help in the effective implementation of this scheme, Patnaik said.
“There shall also be a concurrent monitoring by a third party,” he said, adding that along with rural housing, the Government is also proposing to come out with low-cost affordable housing for urban poor, particularly for those living in slum areas.