Of the 4,632 applications received in city, only 742 fulfil govt criteria Sukhmeet Bhasin Bathinda, February 17 A large number of applications for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Housing for All by 2022 scheme have been rejected during verification by the state government. As per the figures with the Municipal Corporation Bathinda (MCB), 4,632 persons in the city applied for the renovation of their houses. Of them, 742 applicants have been found fulfilling the government criteria for the scheme and have been approved. The remaining 3,890 applications have been rejected. While for the housing scheme, the MCB has received 1,682 applications, of which 940 have been verified, 235 applications have been kept in waiting while others have been rejected. Under the scheme, benefits would be given to the people belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS), including slum-dwellers and low income groups (LIGs). MCB official claims that applications have been rejected as they don’t fulfil the government criteria —some don’t have Aadhaar card while others don’t have required details. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation had made a plan under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna under which 30 slum areas in the city were to be revamped. A survey report for the project was prepared by Kolkata-based multinational company Stesalit Limited in which the slum-free plan for the city was presented. The cost of the project is Rs 700 crore in which the Central government, Punjab Government and the Municipal Corporation have to pool in funds. Beneficiaries would be provided loan on 6 per cent yearly interest. The total numbers of households verified in the first survey, which will be benefited under this scheme, are 11,867. Even 6,000 other households have also been selected, which are on the outskirts of the city, but not many people have applied for the scheme. Under the scheme, the Central grant of Rs one lakh on an average per house can be used by states for any slum redevelopment project. For redevelopment, around 21,000 households have been included. On an average, Rs 7 lakh would be incurred for one household. At least 5,000 households have been included for upgrading. For each household, Rs 3.5 lakh will be spent. As many as 300 households have been included for relocation and Rs 6 lakh will be spent on each household.

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