Pulling up States for the delay in completion of Narendra Modi government’s flagship rural household scheme — Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)— the Union Ministry of Rural Development has come up with a set of penalties that the State governments will have to bear for any further delay. Opposition-ruled West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Odisha along with BJP-ruled Assam are the leading four laggard States who are far behind their targets.
This is the first time, since the scheme started in April 2016 with a target of constructing 2.95 crore houses, that the Union Government has introduced a penalty clause. Under the scheme, the government has set itself a target of 2.95 crore houses. This number was deduced from the Socio-Economic Caste Survey, 2011.
The initial deadline for the scheme was March 2022, which owing to the COVID pandemic was extended by another two years till March 2024. As per the statistics available with the Union Ministry of Rural Development, till August 2022, 2.02 crore houses have been constructed.
