PDP chief’s statement incorrect, issued without understanding: Govt

SRINAGAR, JUNE 05: Rebutting PDP chief’s diatribe on land allotment issue, Jammu and Kashmir government said Mehbooba Mufti’s statement is factually incorrect and issued without having any understanding of the PMAY scheme.

“The statement of Mehbooba Mufti that the government is allotting land to 2 lakh odd persons is factually incorrect and all statements made by her are without having any understanding of the PMAY scheme. J&K government is committed to serving poor and landless people who were deprived of basic amenities such as a roof over their head through reform measures,” the government said in a statement.

The government said PMAY (Grameen) phase -1 started on April 4, 2016, in which 2,57,349 Houseless cases were identified in J&K. After due verification by Gram Sabhas, 136152 cases were sanctioned under Prime Minister’s “Housing for all”.

Per unit assistance of Rs 1.30, lakh is provided per house by the Centre under the scheme. The minimum size of the house prescribed is 1 marla.

The government conducted an Awaas+ survey from January 2018 to March 2019 to identify those beneficiaries who claimed to have been left out under the 2011 SECC. The data of beneficiaries captured through Awaas+ was utilized to fill the gaps between the overall target and eligible beneficiaries made available from SECC Permanent Wait List (PWL)

PMAY PHASE-II(AWAS Plus) Grameen started from 2019 onwards based on a survey of 2018-19, done pan India, in which 2.65 Lakhs houseless cases were recorded in J&K and only a target of 63426 houses was given to J&K. These houses have been sanctioned in 2022 only.

This phase of the scheme is getting over on 31.3.24

Based on the good performance of J&K in sanction and completion of houses, on 30th May 2023, 199550 more PMAY AWAS PLUS houses have been sanctioned as a special dispensation, to ensure housing for all for all 2.65 lakhs houseless persons, who were part of PWL2019.

The survey is based on clear guidelines based on the following criteria :

a. All houseless

b. Those living in zero, one, or two-room kachha houses,

c. Multi-layered prioritization is defined in section 4 of the scheme guidelines.

Those houseless persons who don’t have land or clear title of land or have that category of land where construction is not permitted, couldn’t be sanctioned houses, even if they are part of this Permanent waiting list.

Based on the field level survey, out of 199550, 2711 cases were identified who don’t have clear title of land and fall into the following categories:

a. People residing on State land;

b. People residing on Forest land;

c. People residing in Rakhs and Farms land, where construction is not permitted;

d. People sitting on Custodian land; and

e. Land allotted to displaced people by Government near Dachigam Park for agricultural purposes, where construction is not permitted.

f. Any other category of cases who are otherwise eligible for housing but do not have any land available for construction.”

As government can not sanction houses to someone who doesn’t have land, therefore in order to ensure housing for all, the government has taken a policy decision to allot 5 marlas of land to these 2711 cases so that they can get houses. This is indicative of the government’s commitment to the poor.

“There are 2711 cases which are part of the 2018-19 provisional waiting list of houseless persons of J&K, who were debarred from having a house, just because either they didn’t have land or the land they have is state/forest/any other category of land where construction is not permitted. Data being quoted by her is of Housing & urban affairs, while PMAYG scheme is of Ministry of Rural Development for rural areas of J&K. Data of PWL may be taken by anyone from Awassoft portal,” the government said.