TV
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari launched a veiled attack on the previous government and present Opposition party BJD, wishing to know why there are so many kutcha houses that are getting destroyed every year in cyclones.
After taking stock of the damages caused by cyclone Dana, Minister Pujari said eligible beneficiaries whose kutcha houses suffered damage would be provided pucca houses.
“Despite there being Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and the previous government’s own yojana, why so many houses are still to be transformed into pucca houses. Since Odisha is constantly vulnerable to cyclones and floods, we will try to find out a permanent solution. We will try to transform kutcha houses into pucca houses as fast as possible,” said the Minister.
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He also wished to know if there was any corruption in awas yojana.
Reacting to Minister Pujari’s statement, BJD MLA Sarada Jena said no corruption in awas yojana occurred during the BJD government.
As per information shared in the Odisha Legislative Assembly, as many as 6,56,945 pucca houses had returned for the then BJD government failed to submit a list of beneficiaries during the period from 2016 to 2023. While 42,18,364 pucca houses have been given away, 1,26,719 applicants are still waiting to get a pucca house.
In the recent cyclone, a number of kutcha houses were damaged. The houses of Deepak Nayak and Narayan Nayak, both residents of Simulia, Balasore, have suffered the same fate. Surprisingly enough, they had applied for pucca houses in the previous government’s tenure.
“On several occasions, I have applied for a pucca house but have yet to get it. On the other hand, ineligible beneficiaries have been awarded such houses,” lamented Deepak.
Echoing the same, Narayan said, “I have applied for a pucca house and will immensely benefit if I get one.”
