The Government is on course to achieve targets under Rural Housing Programme — Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), under which the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched PMAY-G on November 20, 2016 from Agra in which a target of completing one crore new houses by March 31, 2019 was set. Of these, 51 lakh houses are to be completed by March 31, 2018.
To meet the challenge of assisting 51 lakh beneficiaries for construction of homes by March, 2018, the Ministry of Rural Development, in partnership with the State Governments, has taken many steps, including setting month-wise target for completion of houses. The target for completion of 10 lakh houses by November has been achieved on November 29 that is before the appointed date for completion of 10 lakh houses. It is expected that 15 lakh houses will be completed 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.
Towards meeting the target of construction of 51 lakh houses by March, 2018, while 56.90 lakh beneficiaries have been sanctioned houses, 51.39 lakh beneficiaries have received first installment, 31.03 lakh beneficiaries have nearly reached roof-cast levels and for 16.05 lakh beneficiaries the house construction is nearing completion. States like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, who have highest number of PMAY-G beneficiaries are on course for completion of PMAY-G houses within the prescribed time-frame.
Faster completion of quality houses have been assisted by payment of assistance directly into the beneficiary account through IT-DBT platform. To ensure good quality of house construction, Rural Mason trainings have been organised to facilitate availability of trained masons in rural areas. Space technology and IT platforms are being used to monitor complete cycle of house construction from identification of beneficiary to construction stages of houses to completion and each stage is being geo-tagged. States have also taken adequate steps to ensure continuous availability of construction material at reasonable prices so that the pace and quality of construction is not adversely affected.
PMAY-G houses with facilities like toilet, lPG connection, electricity connection, drinking water and more are changing the countryside at a faster pace.