TG seeks PMAY fund boost as 80pc of State turns urban
Hyderabad: Almost 80 per cent of Telangana has turned into an urban State as the government has sent the details of increased Urban Development Authorities to the Centre to seek more funds for the housing programme which is one of the six guarantees of the Congress government.
According to the officials, the State government has sent information to the government of India about the increase in the number of urban development authorities in the State from nine to 28 and the areas included in these authorities.
The State government had recently started UDAs covering all the districts aimed at a comprehensive master plan of the suburban areas and also providing basic amenities like drinking water supply, employment opportunities, and growth of satellite townships.
According to the officials, now except for the Mulugu district, every district in the State falls under one UDA or the other. A senior official said that the government aims to take advantage of the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) by seeking more units compared to previous years. The housing scheme has been one of the six guarantees of the State government, and with increased urban areas in the State, the officials expect good funding for the Indiramma Housing scheme.
The official said that the State government was planning to construct over four lakh houses for the poor under Indiramma Housing scheme, and this would require funds to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore. The Centre provides Rs 1.5 lakh for urban housing and Rs 75,000 in the rural areas as unit cost. The State government aims to spend Rs five lakh per unit, and if the Centre provides Rs 1.5 lakh for a unit, the remaining Rs 3.5 lakh can be allocated by the State government.
The official said that presently, the process of identifying the eligible persons of Indiramma was going on in the State and this exercise is going to be completed by Sankranti.
The data received would be uploaded on the Centre’s portals. The officials would be selecting the beneficiaries after scrutiny and providing a ranking of the individuals, and in this way the houses would be provided to over four lakh poor in the State.