Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren during the Independence Day function at Ranchi on Tuesday announced the provision of providing three-room houses free of cost to the poor and needy in the state.

“We had made a promise to provide three-room houses to the people and as part of this promise, we would start Abua Awas Yojana. In the next two years, the government would spend over Rs 15,000 crore from its own expenditure and provide houses for the needy,” said Soren after hoisting the national flag at Morabadi Ground in Ranchi.

The announcement comes after repeated claims by the chief minister of the Centre’s indifference to the state government’s claim for housing for the needy in the state under Prime Minister Awas Yojana (rural).

Significantly, Soren had in February met Union rural development and panchayati raj minister Giriraj Singh in New Delhi and requested him to sanction 8.37 lakh houses in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-rural) for families registered on the Awas Plus portal.

Soren, during the meeting had claimed to have informed the Union rural development and panchayati raj minister that all registered beneficiaries are poor and in need of a dwelling.

A letter which was shared to the media by the chief minister’s office in February had mentioned that only 4,03,504 units were sanctioned in the financial year 2021-22, despite Awas Plus having listed 10,35,895 beneficiaries. The chief minister had also said that 2,03,061 families were removed from the list by the ministry of rural development.

"Most of these families were eligible. Due to wrong entry by local staff, they are now being deprived of homes," he had pointed out. In January, Jharkhand rural development minister Alamgir Alam had also written to the Centre highlighting the matter.

Soren said his government has taken a strong pledge to build a strong Jharkhand and has taken a slew of steps like reviving the old pension scheme, leaving benefits to policemen, sending students overseas for higher studies and taking the schemes to the doorsteps of people.

He said appointments to about 38,000 posts were on the anvil while ensuring that the local citizens get its benefits. "Mukhyamantri Sarathi Yojana has been started in 80 blocks of the state for skill development of the youth. Provisions of Mukhyamantri Rojgar Srijan Yojana have been relaxed. The government is also ensuring time-bound promotion of its employees," he said.

He said that the state is running 88 schemes for the benefit of farmers.