The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Odisha government on Tuesday branding the newly-launched ‘Mo Ghara’ scheme meaningless.
Speaking to reporters, the Union Jal Shakti Minister, Bishweswar Tudu said, “They (Odisha govt) could not distribute lakhs of houses sanctioned by the Centre in several districts of the State. They have launched this ‘Mo Ghara’ scheme to mislead the people of Odisha, and this is meaningless.”
“If people will look closer they will understand that why this scheme has been launched at a time when lakhs of sanctioned houses under the PM Awas Yojana are lying undistributed with the State government,” Tudu said.
However, the Odisha government denied the allegations. Clarifying the State government’s stand, Odisha Panchayatiraj Minister, Pradeep Amat said, “We demanded 14 lakh houses under the PMAY. However, after repeated requests, Centre approved only 9.5 lakh homes which turned out to be inadequate.”
“We have requirement of more houses, especially in the Swabhiman area where communication is not a problem now. ‘Mo Ghara’ scheme aims to fill that gap and provide pucca houses to the lower middle class, who have been excluded from the PMAY,” Amat said.
As per an Odisha government press release, the scheme will cover all such families who were left out of the existing housing schemes due to stringent eligibility criteria or due to insufficient allocation and also those who had received housing assistance of smaller amounts in the past and now want to upgrade or expand their houses.