NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the first installments of PM Awas Yojana to lakhs of beneficiaries in rural areas and ‘griha pravesh’ of 26 lakh beneficiaries will be held on September 15 in Jamshedpur, Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on Tuesday.
Addressing an online meeting with rural development ministers of states, Chouhan said the prime minister will release installments worth Rs 2,745 crore to lakhs of beneficiaries of the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY).
PM Modi will also interact with Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) beneficiaries, the Rural Development Ministry said in a statement.
Around 10 lakh beneficiaries will get their first installments at the event in Jharkhand, where assembly elections are due later this year. Acceptance letters will also be distributed to all the targeted beneficiaries for the financial year 2024-25, the statement said.
The ministry said a large number of people will participate in the programme and lakhs will join it online.
At the meeting in which senior officials of the Rural Development Ministry were present, Chouhan gave necessary instruction for the preparation of the programme, the ministry said.
The ministers from the states expressed their resolve to fully participate in the programme, the statement said.
The Union minister said that the target was to construct 2.95 crore houses by March 2024 out of which almost all the houses have been approved, while 2.65 crore houses have been completed.
He said that ‘griha pravesh’, a traditional ceremony performed while moving into a new house, of 26 lakh beneficiaries whose houses have been completed so far during the financial year 2023-24 and 2024-25 will also take place on the day.
Chouhan added that rules of the scheme have been simplified and amended to ensure people are not excluded.
Exclusion criteria such as owning motorised two-wheelers or fishing boats, refrigerators and landline phones have been removed, according to the ministry.
Apart from this, the monthly income limit of a member of the family has been increased from Rs 10 thousand to Rs 15 thousand. The exclusion criteria related to land ownership has also been simplified, it said.
“The Ministry of Rural Development, after consulting the views of all the states and all the stakeholders, has decided that unnecessary conditions should be removed so that the objective of housing for all can be truly realized,” the minister said.
Chouhan added that the houses built under the scheme are “complete” houses, which are well-equipped.
“In true sense, this scheme will prove to be the foundation stone of poverty free village and developed India,” he said.
The Union cabinet had last month approved implementation of the PMAY-G during FY 2024-25 to 2028-29.
Two crore more houses will be constructed under the PMAY-G during next five years to address housing need arisen over the years. Construction of houses for two crore more households is expected to benefit nearly 10 crore individuals, the statement said.
