Several beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Kochi are awaiting payments to complete house construction just as the monsoon sets in, exacerbating their worries.
Payments worth ₹6 crore are pending for around 450 beneficiaries who had applied for funds before the lockdown. Officials in the Kochi Corporation are anticipating that in around two weeks, the civic body will have to pay at least 1,411 beneficiaries who are at different stages of construction and have resumed work after the announcement of the lockdown.
A beneficiary at Palluruthy, who did not want to be named, received her second instalment in January, after a four-month delay, but has not been paid since then. If the third instalment had been given when she had applied for it in February, the construction could have been completed before monsoon, she said. The family had initially rented a place when their house was pulled down for reconstruction. Not able to pay the rent, they had to move into a shed on the construction site which was proving to be difficult with water seeping in when it rains, she added.
“We are now trying to avail a loan and complete some work to move in before the rain gets more regular. We had expected that PMAY would be a big help, but the delay in payment has made the scheme more of a hassle. With no salary during the lockdown, we are not able to pay for school textbooks, let alone pay for house construction,” said the mother of two who used to work at a tutorial centre before the lockdown.
Though the corporation council had decided to avail a bank loan of ₹35 crore in December last year, the bank has not released the amount yet, said Deputy Mayor K.R. Premakumar. The amount was approved, and the civic body is in the process of providing a deposit of ₹3.5 crore to the bank, he said. The deposit amount will be taken from unused funds left over from the JNNURM scheme.
The Centre and State governments are also yet to provide their share of ₹46 crore. Of that amount, ₹5.5 crore was expected soon, he said.
Of the 8,266 applications, work has begun on 4,286 houses, and the construction of 2,285 houses has been completed.
The most recent list of 1,344 applicants is yet to be approved by the State government. An additional ₹53 crore will be required to pay the civic body’s share for the new beneficiaries, putting the corporation in a fix.
Of the ₹4 lakh given to each beneficiary in different instalments, ₹2 lakh is the corporation’s share, ₹1.5 lakh is paid by the Centre, and ₹50,000 is funded by the State.
