A multitude of municipalities in Bengal are facing a dearth of funds to complete homes under the Housing for All (HFA) scheme allegedly because of delay in getting central government’s share.
The HFA, which is also known as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban), is an affordable housing scheme for economically weaker sections (EWS). Civic bodies are allotted Rs 3.68 lakh to construct a house with 30 square meter carpet area having basic amenities. The amount is Rs 4.41 lakh for civic bodies in hilly areas.
The scheme was announced by the Narendra Modi government in 2015 with a target to provide houses to all poor families in urban areas in the country before 2022.
Of Rs 3.68 lakh, Rs 1.5 lakh is contributed by the Centre and Rs 1.93 lakh by the state government. Each of the beneficiaries needs to contribute the rest Rs 25,000. The money is disbursed directly to the beneficiaries’ accounts in five instalments.
Jahanara Begum Munshi Muklesur Rahaman
Sources said around 90,000 houses had been sanctioned in 125 municipal areas in Bengal in the current financial year. Officials in multiple civic bodies said they had not been getting funds under the scheme for the past three months as there was a delay in releasing the Centre’s share.
“The flow of funds from the central government is very slow. The beneficiaries have already received their first instalments. The rest of the money will be disbursed as soon as a matching grant from the Centre is received,” said a senior state government official.
A large number of beneficiaries are in trouble as they could not start work on their house or constructions stopped mid-way. Many of the beneficiaries complained that they were yet to receive their first instalments.
“I deposited my share of Rs 25,000 in bank and demolished my mud-house according to the instructions of officials three months ago. I could not start work as I have yet to receive any instalment. I am paying a monthly rent of Rs 2,000 to stay at a neighbour’s house,” said Jahanara Begum, a resident of ward 26 of Burdwan municipality.
Paresh Sarkar, the chairman of the Trinamul Congress-run Burdwan municipality, admitted that many houses couldn’t be built because of the shortage of the funds.
“We have 2,200 houses under the HFA scheme this year. The flow of the funds is very irregular. We hope the crisis will end soon,” said Sarkar.
Municipalities at Rampurhat (in Birbhum district), Purulia and Bankura are also facing the crisis.
“The beneficiaries are knocking at the door of my office every day seeking allotment. We have already requested the urban development department to disburse the funds as soon as possible. However, the officials in Calcutta said they couldn’t release funds till they received matching grants from the central government,” said Soumen Bhakat, the chairman of Rampurhat municipality.
Officials at Nabanna couldn’t clarify why the flow of the funds from Delhi was slow.
The state is also facing dearth of funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (rural) as the Centre stopped disbursing its share accusing the Mamata Banerjee government of renaming the project as Bangla Awas Yojana.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced at one of her recent administrative meetings that her government would provide the entire fund for the rural housing scheme if the Centre did not sanction the money.
“In case of urban housing scheme, the state’s share is more than that of the Centre. But we can’t disburse the state’s share only as it would not cover all beneficiaries,” said an official.
