Panchayat Poll Plank! Odisha CM Announces Assistance Under Rural Housing Schemes; Check Details

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the rural polls slater early next year, the Odisha cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to provide house repair assistance of Rs 3000 to beneficiaries of Biju Pucca Ghar (BPGY) and Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojna.

Eligible families, who are waiting to get a house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Grameen (PMAY-G), will receive an assistance of Rs 5000. About 30 lakh families will benefit from this decision.

“A house is an identity of a family and every person dreams of owning a house. Odisha is ravaged by cyclonic storms almost every year and hence, it has become pertinent for people to own a pucca shelter. Biju Babu had dreamt of a proper roof over every head in the state. To fulfil this dream of his, the first cabinet meeting in 2014 took the decision to convert every kutch house into a pucca one. BPGY was a step in this direction,” the CM said.

Naveen said that the Cabinet has now taken a historic decision to provide house repair assistance to the beneficiaries of this scheme, who had been hit hard by the COVID pandemic.

The state government will bear an additional burden of Rs 1444 crore for this purpose. The amount will be met from the BPGY budget, the CM added.

Earlier in the day, the government had released Rs 350 crore for distribution as livelihood assistance among beneficiaries of national and state food security schemes in all 30 districts of the state.