‘Confident of completing housing for all in time’

NEW DELHI : The performance of the central government in providing housing has stood the test of the Covid-19 pandemic, rural development ministry secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha tells

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houses will get completed.

Are you confident to achieve Housing for All by August 2022?

We have cases where houses have been completed in just three months. We are happy that about 26 lakh houses have been completed so far in this financial year

First of all, I dispute the way completion rate is measured. It should be measured against the sanctions of a year ago, while 4.16% achievement is against the current years’ sanction. In fact, we should see this achievement vis-a-vis the last year’s sanction. What you are mentioning as low performance, in fact should be counted as a superior performance in the exceptional circumstances of Covid-19, as these houses have been completed in less than 6 months’ time.

We started out with the permanent waiting list based on the SECC. We are confident of providing houses for all PW by the said period. Those who have come late through Awaas +, their houses will require some more time... Also, the states have been massively affected by Covid-19.

The PMAYG started with a target to build 2.95 crore houses. What is the progress on that target?

The SECC found 4.04 crore people didn’t have houses or had kaccha houses with not more than two rooms. The figures were verified by Gram Sabhas and the number came down to 2.95 crore. This was the target for PMAYG. Sanction of the houses is subject to verification as someone who didn’t have a house in 2011 SECC survey might have built a house in the intervening period, some people might have migrated permanently or died. Meanwhile, as Awaas+ survey has been undertaken where 3.57 lakh people claimed to be left out of SECC, 2011. We have asked states to conduct physical verification. Once completed, genuine claimants can be determined.