Indian village councils review PM Awas Yojana beneficiary lists as West Bengal prepares housing for jute mill workers

Village assemblies review housing lists in Bihar

In recent days, several districts in the Indian state of Bihar have held special village assemblies, known as gram sabhas, where residents and local officials reviewed and approved beneficiary lists for the government's Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PM Awas Yojana), India's housing scheme for low-income families.

In Samastipur district's Vibhutipur block, in Singhiya Buzurg Uttar panchayat, a special assembly was held where the beneficiary list was read aloud with the help of housing assistant Nagendra Kumar, according to Dainik Bhaskar. Applications were taken from eligible residents who had been left off the list.

In Motihari district's Sangrampur block, general assemblies were held across eight panchayats, where, as reported by Hindustan, residents raised objections that some eligible beneficiaries had been removed from the list and demanded re-verification.

Meanwhile, in Purnia district's Dimia Chhatarjan panchayat, an assembly approved a list of 1,007 beneficiaries, and, according to Hindustan, no resident raised any objection. The meeting also covered other local needs such as roads, drains and drinking water, and residents listened to the Prime Minister's radio programme "Mann Ki Baat."

In Araria district's Sikti block, in Bardaha panchayat, the focus was on geo-tagging: housing assistant Lalit Jha said 1,219 general-category and 685 SC/ST-category applicants had been geo-tagged, totalling 1,904 people. Residents complained that many eligible families remained excluded from the scheme, and panchayat head Parvez Alam promised to secure approval for a proposal to add the left-out applicants.

West Bengal preparing housing for jute mill workers

Separately from the events in Bihar, the West Bengal government, as reported by The Times of India, has launched pilot projects in North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to implement the urban version of the scheme, PM Awas Yojana - Urban 2.0, for jute mill workers. About 8,000 workers have expressed interest and will become eligible once their applications are verified. The scheme covers families with an annual household income of up to Rs 3 lakh who do not own a pucca house anywhere in the country. Each flat will have a carpet area of 30 to 45 square metres with at least two rooms, a kitchen and a toilet, and will cost around Rs 5.5 lakh.