Residents of Charnal village in the Sihore district of Madhya Pradesh are in anguish. Most of them still live in kuccha houses and their attempts to build their homes under the state's rural housing scheme are not bearing fruits. This, despite them owning their land and having the requisite ownership papers.
Nearly 4.2 crore people in rural India remain homeless despite flagship government schemes like the Indira Awaas Yojna which were designed to help every Indian have his own home. CNBC-TV18’s Budget caravan gets ground report from MP on where the government's state run schemes are falling short.
After waiting for months to get a loan from the bank, Gauri Shankar Verma eventually constructed his house with his hard-earned savings.
The state-run chief minister's rural housing scheme has been instituted to supplement the central housing scheme known as Indira Awaas Yojna. It aims to provide housing to 37 lakh rural poor who are homeless or live in kuccha houses and under this, a subsidy of Rs 50,000 and a bank loan of an equal amount are provided.
But to be eligible for the bank loan, villagers need a title deed for the land, which most in rural India do not have. Government officials agree that the paperwork involved in getting the loan is a challenge.
Aruna Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary - Rural Development, MP said: “The biggest challenge has been the Bhu Adhikar Patra process. Banks only recognise the title deeds signed by Tehsildar and that is a time taking process.” Data shared by the MP Rural Development Ministry said that between 2012-2014 loans for nearly 3.7 lakh people were sanctioned, against their target of 4.5 lakhs and over 1 lakh houses have been built.
Statistics aside, there are many in the village who are yet to take the advantage of the scheme due to various hurdles. Experts say the scheme is fraught with complications.
Sachin Kumar Jain, director, Vikas Samvad said, “Social audit is not being done in this particular scheme. That is why you are not going to see the clear picture of who is actually getting the benefit.”
Experts feel greater co-ordination between gram panchayats and banks will enable monitoring of the flow of funds from the bank to the borrower. As government now looks to converge all central housing schemes into one, these villagers hope that red tape and delays that keep them away from their house will be a thing of the past.
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