RAIPUR
Months before the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, the Bhupesh Baghel government on Wednesday announced an ambitious rural housing project that seeks to correct some of the criticism against his government.
Titled Gramin Awas Nyay Yojana, the scheme will be funded by the State and is meant to ease the process of receiving grants for the eligible beneficiaries, the CM said in a tweet.
“Due to the determination of eligibility for Prime Minister’s Rural Housing on the basis of the survey list of Socio-Economic Survey 2011, in the present situation, the needy families are facing difficulty in getting housing approval. To overcome this, on the basis of the survey conducted by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, I announce ‘Gramin Awas Nyay Yojana’ for the eligible families from the resources of the State,” tweeted Mr. Baghel.
The State’s failure to provide matching grants to construct houses meant for rural poor under the Centre’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana had been flagged by the now Deputy Chief Minister, T.S. Singh Deo, who relinquished the Panchayati Raj portfolio a year ago.
After Mr. Singh Deo – who was said to be locked in a power tussle with Mr. Baghel before their recent patch-up – pegged the number of beneficiaries at nearly 8,00,000 and insisted that not a single house under the scheme was constructed during the Congress government’s tenure, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had lapped up the issue, launching a door-to-door campaign ‘Mor Aawaas, Mor Adhikaar’ [My house, my right in Chhattisgarhi]. The party pegs the number of beneficiaries who lost out at 16 lakh.
‘Political stunt’
The BJP has called the new scheme a political stunt.
“There are 12 lakh beneficiaries shortlisted under the SECC, a UPA-era survey, waiting for their houses to be constructed and another 4 lakh shortlisted under the Aawas Plus list. After snatching their houses, they are talking about new surveys, lists and new sanctions just three months before the elections. They are only confusing the people of Chhattisgarh who won’t forgive them,” said BJP spokesperson O.P. Choudhary,
