Government sanctions 1.39 lakh dwelling houses for homeless urban poor

BHUBANESWAR: In a significant move towards providing dwelling houses to urban poor, 1, 39,149 dwelling houses have been sanctioned for homeless households in 114 towns across Odisha.

This was revealed from the State Level Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee meeting held here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra.

Mohapatra directed the urban local bodies to intensify Jaga Mission activities in their respective areas.

He further directed the revenue and disaster management department and ULBs to identify more patches of land and protect those from encroachment for bringing the dispersed houses in to one place of resettlement.

The Committee approved 8273 new housing project proposals received from 52 ULBs with estimation of 24,828.04 lakhs.

On an average, a dwelling house of around 21 to 30 square metres is estimated at Rs.3 lakhs. Out of this, the beneficiary gets a financial assistance of Rs.2 lakhs provided both by the Central and State Government. Rest amount of Rs 1 lakh is the beneficiary share which he/she contributes mostly through labour.

Arrangements have also been for linking the beneficiaries to banks loans for the beneficiary share.

Additional Chief Secretary Forest and Environment Mona Sharma, Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development G. Mathivathanan, Principal Secretary Revenue & Disaster Management Bishnupada Sethi, Principal Secretary Finance Ashok Kumar Meena and Mission Director Sri Suresh Chandra Dalai along with other senior officers from State Level Bankers’ Coordination Committee and Odisha Urban Housing Mission participated in the discussion.