Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urging him to waive the withdrawal limit from bank accounts for beneficiaries of rural housing schemes.
Mr. Patnaik, in the letter, requested exemption for beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin, Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana and other State-funded rural housing schemes in the interest of the poor rural housing beneficiaries.
The Chief Minister said Odisha had succeeded in completing about 1.4 lakh houses under various schemes, both — Centrally-sponsored and State-funded — during the current financial year. .
“Timely release of instalments to the beneficiaries plays a pivotal role in successful implementation of these schemes,” Mr. Patnaik said.
The total sanctioned amount is released in four instalments to the beneficiaries in the State — Rs. 20,000; Rs. 30,000/35,000; Rs. 40,000/45,000 and Rs. 30,000, Mr. Patnaik stated in his letter. The first instalment of Rs. 20,000 is within the limit of withdrawal from bank account set by the Reserve Bank of India post demonetisation. But the remaining three go beyond the stipulated limit.
“The limit on withdrawal not only causes inconvenience to the poor beneficiaries, but has also been a dampener to our goal of completing five lakh houses by March 31, 2017,” asserted Mr. Patnaik.
