Till a few months ago, Laxman Mehangal lived with his family of four in a mud-and-thatch house in Borgaon, Khalapur, some 70 kilometres southeast of Mumbai. His home now is a bare brick-and-concrete structure less than half the size of a squash court.
Mehangal (34), who travels about 40 kilometres every day to Matheran to eke out a living as a labourer, built it from the first installment of funds he got under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rural housing plan. It provides poor families Rs 1.2 lakh to make 25-square-metre houses.
“I am grateful for the house,” he said, packing the tiffin for his four-year-old daughter Deepu. “We now have more space and a better shelter,” he said, as the girl hopped off to school.
He is among 576 such beneficiaries from 120 villages of the Khalapur taluka.
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin targets one crore homes for people like him –homeless or living in kuccha houses. Since the launch in November 2017, it has built 10 lakh.
Which means, the first target of 51 lakh by March looks unlikely. But the Ministry of Rural Development is confident of beating that by building 10 lakh houses a month.
Beneficiaries are identified by panchayats based on the 2011 Socioeconomic and Caste Census. “We conduct a gram sabha (village meet) to identify the beneficiaries,” said KB Patil, gram sevak (village council worker) of Borgaon. “We check the ration cards and then send the list to the panchayat for another round of verification.”
It’s then vetted by an external contractor, said Sanjay Bhoye, block development officer, panchayat samiti, Khalapur. “Our officer visits individual villages to verify the beneficiaries and funds are released once they are approved.”
For every house, the grant is Rs 1.2 lakh and that’s transferred directly to accounts. Since most such homes are constructed by the beneficiaries, they also receive Rs 18,000 as part of the rural jobs guarantee scheme and another Rs 12,000 to build toilets.
Mehangal’s got Rs 90,000 so far. He plans to complete plastering and tiling work once he gets the remaining Rs 30,000. That would take another month or two, he said.
Ashok Sambre’s home is ready and painted bright pink. It took him two months to build. He’s not happy though. “There is no water. I still have to fill pots of water from a nearby well,” Sambre (35) who earns about Rs 200 a day as a labourer, told BloombergQuint.
The Borgaon panchayat has 14 villages with around 450 houses – a mix of under-construction and kuccha homes. Patil said about 103 people were selected under the housing scheme and about 30 houses have been completed in the last six months. The target is to build the rest in the next six months.
In entire Khalapur taluka, Bhoye said 289 houses were completed in 2016-17 and the remaining 286 should be ready by March.
Lakhu Dhai, who lives with her two teenaged children, won’t be among those who would move into those houses. Her name doesn’t feature on the list of beneficiaries. “We didn’t receive any response despite submitting our claim.”
Some people not on the 2011 list are separately verified by the gram sabha and then their claims are passed on to the panchayat samiti, Bhoye said. They are approved only after verification from the district officials and that process is on, he said.
Vasudev Khadke (29) awaits his grant and he hopes to get the money in 15 days. “I would have to put in some extra,” he said. “If I am building my first house, I want it to be nice and big.”
For Mehangal, the look and size of the house wasn’t a priority. He is happy with what he has. “At least, my children will lead a better life.”
(The article has been published in an arrangement with BloombergQuint)
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