HYDERABAD: Hopes for swift central funding for the initial phase of the Revanth Reddy government’s ambitious Indiramma housing scheme in rural areas faced a setback. The Union Housing Ministry communicated to the state that the submitted proposals do not meet the required norms.
The state government submitted a list of housing beneficiaries to secure funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) scheme. Under PMAY (Rural), the ministry allocates ₹72,000 per housing unit, while the state government must cover the remaining cost.
In its correspondence, the Union ministry instructed officials to upload live facial authentication using Aadhaar for each beneficiary onto its website, presenting a significant challenge for the Telangana government, which must verify 19.5 lakh beneficiaries in rural areas. The ministry set a completion deadline of July 31 for this task.
However, Housing Department Secretary V.P. Gautham assured TOI that the state has already complied with the PMAY norms for the beneficiary survey. “They advised us to enter beneficiary survey details into their app with Aadhaar facial authentication. This work is currently underway, and we are optimistic about meeting the deadline,” he stated.
PMAY Urban 2.0
The Congress government is offering ₹5 lakh in financial assistance to the beneficiaries of the Indiramma housing scheme for constructing housing units. Of this amount, the Centre’s contribution under PMAY Urban 2.0 will be ₹1.5 lakh for each urban unit and ₹72,000 for each rural unit.
The state government is set to construct 4.50 lakh Indiramma houses in the first phase, with permission letters already issued for over 3.50 lakh beneficiaries. The state expects to receive over ₹2,000 crore in central funding under PMAY for the housing scheme, as funds are released annually once the state submits the necessary data.
Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has repeatedly stated that the Congress government will implement the Indiramma housing scheme regardless of any delays in central funding. “Even if central funding is postponed, the construction of Indiramma houses will proceed as planned, and we will aid beneficiaries with the construction of over 20 lakh houses in five years, providing ₹5 lakh in financial assistance to each,” he added.
