Beneficiaries of the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) scheme in Jammu and Kashmir are facing hardships as the J&K Housing Board, the nodal agency for implementing the program, has failed to release pending payments for the last three months.
The PMAY-U, a flagship mission of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched in 2015, aims to provide pucca houses to all eligible urban households by 2022 when India marked 75 years of independence. However, the non-payment of instalments has brought construction to a halt across the union territory.
In Billawar, an official from the local municipal committee said, “We have sent four lists under different categories through the Deputy Commissioner’s office to the Housing Board, but no payments have been released for the last 2-3 months.”
The situation is similar in Reasi district, officials from the all 36 urban local bodies of Jammu division have same story to narrate about the Housing Board failing to clear dues owed to PMAY-U beneficiaries.
A beneficiary from Verinag in Anantnag district said his family had received only one or two instalments in the last six months despite submitting bills through the Deputy Commissioner’s office. “We are from poor families with no income source. Some beneficiaries spent the harsh winter in tin sheds due to failure of JKHB to fulfil its mandate,” he lamented, adding they had conveyed their sufferings to the Commissioner Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department.
The delays have left many beneficiaries, especially from economically weaker sections, in a precarious position as they await completion of their dream homes sanctioned under the flagship urban housing scheme.
Attempts to reach the Managing Director of the J&K Housing Board for comments were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.
