Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the allocation of funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

The PMAY by the central government facilitates access to affordable housing for low and moderate-income residents of the country.

In his letter written on Tuesday, Baghel sought assistance for 6,99,439 families currently on the permanent waiting list for houses and an additional 47,090 families identified in the Chhattisgarh government’s Socio-Economic Survey 2023.

In the letter, the Congress chief minister said his government had already decided to release the state’s share to provide housing benefits to those families.

In an earlier letter dated July 3, 2023, written by him regarding the PMAY, the Chhattisgarh government has pleaded for the allocation of targets for 8,19,999 families under Awas Plus, in addition to the 6,99,439 families on the permanent waiting list.

Tuesday’s letter said the Centre had withdrawn the target of 7,81,999 houses sanctioned for the 2021-22 fiscal.

“As of now, there has been no response from the Government of India regarding the requests made by the state government,” the letter states.

In the letter, Baghel highlighted that based on the 2011 census, the Union government had created the permanent waiting list, and in 2018, it compiled the Awas Plus list, which included 8,18,989 eligible families in addition to those on the permanent waiting list.

The letter also pointed out that the government of India conducted a socio-economic and caste census/BPL survey every 10 years, which has not yet been carried out since 2011.

Baghel wrote that the state had decided to allocate its share of funds to construct houses for 6,99,438 families on the permanent waiting list and 47,090 homeless families identified in the Economic Survey 2023 conducted by the Chhattisgarh government.