Construction of about 65 lakh houses have been completed in the rural areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) till January 9. As it appears to be difficult to build the remaining 35 lakh houses over the next two-and-a-half months, the Union Government is now insisting on at least completing the paper works for sanctioning construction of the houses for one crore rural households by March 31.

The governments of the States and the Union Territories sanctioned houses for only about 95 lakh beneficiaries till January 9.

The senior officials of the union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) on Wednesday reviewed the progress in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) in a meeting with the officials of the governments of the States and Union Territories in New Delhi.

The Modi Government restructured the erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana into Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) with effect from April 1, 2016.

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The MoRD also noted that while 472345 landless beneficiaries had been identified, only 56694 (12%) had so far been provided land for construction of houses under the PMAY (G) scheme.

“Providing land to landless beneficiaries is crucial in achieving the target of construction of one crore houses. These landless beneficiaries are the most deserving PMAY (G) beneficiaries,” Prashant Kumar, Joint Secretary (Rural Housing) of the union MoRD, wrote to the senior officials of the State and UT Governments on January 4 last.