Jairam sanctions additional IAY houses for Odisha tribals

Reported by Manoj Mishra
Bhubaneswar, July 25

The Union Rural Development Ministry has okayed the proposal of the Odisha government for 7465 additional houses for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) for Nuapada and Rayagada districts under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY).
“The Central share comes to Rs 41.99 crore of which 50 percent (Rs 20.99 crore) has been released as first installment for construction of these additional houses. This is over and above the normal allocation of IAY”, said Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh in a letter to chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday.
The Union minister, in his letter, said during his visit to Kalahandi and Nuapada districts in January and February this year, the district administrations had asked for more IAY houses for the PVTGs, a proposal he had promised to meet.
Besides, the state government in July this year had also requested the ministry for sanction of more IAY houses for Chakotia Bhunjia and Dangaria Kondh families in Sunabeda Reserve Forest in Nuapada district and Bissamcuttack, Kalyansinghpur and Muniguda blocks in Rayagada district.
The normal allocation under IAY for Odisha during 2013-14 is 128,057 for which the ministry has already released Rs 306.03 crore during the current fiscal, Ramesh informed.