Housing dept seeks over ₹2,000 cr from Andhra Pradesh CM for PM Aawas Yojana

According to a senior official,  the central government has released ₹4,032 crore under PMAY-U so far in the 2022-23 financial year, but the Andhra Pradesh government released only ₹2,556 crore of the grant to the Housing Department, diverting another ₹1,476 crore, the official told PTI news agency.

Of the proportionate share of ₹1,389 crore, the AP government released only ₹504 crore so far but stopped the balance citing “resource crunch”, the officla added. Payment of ₹755 crore, including ₹324 crore to the beneficiaries, has been pending, severely hampering the progress of the scheme. 

Over the last few years, the Centre sanctioned 16,84,502 houses to Andhra Pradesh under PMAY-U but only 13,92,855 have been taken up for construction so far, the official said. 

AP, which tops the country drawing over 57 per cent of the total PMAY-U grant this year, is expecting to get a total of ₹5,000 crore. “The remaining Central share of ₹1,476 crore and the state share of ₹885 crore have to be released immediately to get the next instalment from the Centre in December,” Housing Department officials told the Chief Minister at a high-level review meeting on Wednesday. 

Housing department officials said ₹324 crore has to be paid to the PMAY-U beneficiaries and another ₹311 crore for land acquisition and land levelling work. Also, ₹120 crore has to be paid for drinking water supply works taken up under the Jal Jeevan Mission. 

Further, the  housing department officials also told the Chief Minister that the progress of the housing programme has been vastly affected in the last few months due to non-availability of funds and relentless rainfall (20 per cent excess). Bad roads across the state have affected movement of vehicles carrying construction material to various places. 

Sand, a critical input, is in short supply. Stocks available in various depots have “exhausted” and refilling has not been possible as sand reaches remained non-operational because of floods. 

The state government planned to organise a massive function on December 21 to mark the completion of about five lakh houses but it could now be held only after January next year, PTI news agency said.