Target of 10 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme achieved: Government

New Delhi: The government has achieved its target of 10 lakh houses under the flagship housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana within the stipulated time, the Rural Development Ministry said on Wednesday.

These houses are changing the countryside at a faster pace and are equipped with facilities such as toilet, LPG connection, electricity connection, drinking water etc, the ministry said in a statement.

The houses were completed within time mainly due to direct payment of financial assistance into the beneficiary accounts and by providing quality training of house construction to rural masons, it said.

Under the scheme, the target was to be achieved by November 30.

The government is aiming to construct more than 50 lakh homes for the poor in rural areas across the country by March 31 next year. While the overall target is to construct one crore new houses by March 31, 2019.

The homeless and those living in a 'kuccha' room with 'kuccha' roof or two 'kuccha' rooms with 'kuccha' roof are the beneficiaries of this pro-poor PMAY (rural) scheme, which was launched in June 2015.

Under it, the government envisages building affordable 'pucca' houses with water facility, sanitation and electricity supply round-the-clock.

The homes are designed by the best of institutions after studying the existing local design typologies and are constructed by beneficiaries as per their needs.

The payment for construction of the houses is directly transferred into the accounts of the beneficiaries.

To ensure transparency and check corruption, the Centre has set up an online platform where any person can see the construction of homes with geo-tagged photographs and complete details of beneficiaries and payments made to them.