To double spending per house to Rs 1.5l, raise unit size to 30 sq mts
The Narendra Modi Government is all set to recast the UPA’s ambitious flagship scheme Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) by doubling the spending per house to Rs 1.5 lakh and raising the unit size to at least 30 sq mts with toilet and bathing space as its integral part and setting up the National Gramin Awaas Mission (GRAM) to supervise the scheme.
The aim is to make the IAY more purposeful for the below poverty line (BPl) population in the rural areas, said a senior RD Ministry official.
The Ministry is now seeking feedback from the States and stakeholders on the proposed GRAM, to be set up in the form of an autonomous registered society to implement and monitor the scheme at the national level. Similar missions will be set up at the State and district level, as per the discussion paper.
Setting up of the Mission follows Government’s aim to achieve target of providing ‘pucca houses for all by 2022’, including those in the villages as well as total sanitation as envisaged under the Swach Bharat Mission announced in the Union Budget 2014-15, the official said.
A target of 3.20 crore houses can be covered, in a period of eight years with an annual target of 25 lakh houses and fund requirements of Rs 27,300 crore, says the paper.
The dwelling units are proposed to be spacious and disaster-proof having all basic amenities such as toilet and potable water with the Government planning to ensure their mandatory convergence. Also, the scheme will be tweaked to make provision for household level biological waste treatment facility with appropriate technologies like biodigesters.
The official noted that presently funds were being doled out from different agencies for construction of houses and toilets as a result of which the construction was either delaying or leading to inadequate housing facilities. According to a report, only 21 per cent houses built under IAY had toilets in 2013.
Under the scheme, two streams of work would be carried out. First, upgradation/construction of individual houses in existing habitats for beneficiaries selected on the basis of a participatory process and second will be upgradation/construction through a habitat approach including mandatory convergence for water and power as projects.
Presently, the Government paid Rs 70,000 for a 20 sq mt housing unit. For Naxal-affected districts and Hill States the per unit cost has been Rs 75,000. For the IAY, the Centre and the States share is fixed at 75:25 ratio.
The Centre has allocated over Rs 17,000 crore for construction of nearly 25 lakh houses under the IAY in 2014-15. The paper says, the construction of 20 lakh houses during the current year, at an unit cost of Rs 1.5 lakh would require funds of Rs 21,840 crore (Rs 6,940 crore over and above the existing outlay of Rs 16,000 crore in Budget estimates 2014-15).
Making the case for enhanced allocation, the paper says that, "While the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) under which toilets are constructed is implemented at the ground level by a different agency, cost of construction has increased with increase in prices of material and wages for skilled labour.
"Moreover, all the houses should be able to withstand wear and tear and weather factors for at least a period of 30 years and should not slip back into disrepair within a few years.
"In the above scenario the unit assistance is found to be insufficient. Unit assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh or so in plain areas or a little higher in difficult/hilly areas with would have significant cost implications but is inevitable if the problem of housing in rural areas is to be addressed," notes the paper.
Since the inception of the scheme, Rs 82,780.00 crore has been expended for the construction of 2.91 crore houses. For the 12th Five Year Plan, the scheme has an outlay of Rs 59,585 crore.
Against the annual target of 30 lakh houses, the budgetary outlay for the scheme enabled a target of 30.09 lakh and 24.85 lakh houses in 2012-13 and 2013-14 respectively, the official said.
Under one roof
The Narendra Modi Government is all set to recast the UPA’s ambitious flagship scheme Indira Awas Yojana
To double spending per house to Rs 1.5 lakh and raise unit size to at least 30 sq mts with toilet and bathing space as its integral part and setting up the National Gramin Awaas Mission
The aim is to make the IAY more purposeful for BPl population in the rural areas
Setting up of the Mission follows Government’s aim to achieve target of providing ‘pucca houses for all by 2022’, including those in the villages as well as total sanitation as envisaged under the Swach Bharat Mission announced in the Union Budget 2014-15
The Centre has allocated over Rs 17,000 crore for construction of nearly 25 lakh houses under the IAY in 2014-15