Housing schemes for poor people are pouring in Jharkhand.Millions of rupees have been spent. And,there is no officially recorded files showing accountability.

Also,there is no official data available to show how many people had benefited from the PM Awas Yojna and the Abua Awas yojna announced by Chief Minister Hemant Soren early this year.

In absence of these official data of real beneficiaries,their socio- economic profile was in complete dark, raising many an eye brow. 

The problem is deep rooted.The beneficiary identification process varies for PMAY-G( Rural)and PMAY-U( Urban).No body knows what criteria the state government relies on to verify the identity of beneficiary of its Abua yojna.

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The PMAY-U guidelines underscore state governments' need to rely on SECC data to assess demand. 

However, for beneficiary identification, the PMAY-U relies upon housing demand surveys. Both the approaches of beneficiary identification in PMAY-U and PMAY-G have limitations which need to be addressed on priority.Nothing is clear about identification of the state government’s Abu’s Yojna.

Consider this.

For example, as per the PM Awas Yojna ( Urban), 2,10,002 housing schemes were approved. 

Among them, construction work of 1,22,744 houses was complete, according to government data till 2023. 

The PM Awas Yojna( Urban) was in 2015. Nine years later in 2024, against approved schemes for construction of 2.10 lakh houses, 1.22 lakh houses were constructed. 

How many of these constructed houses under PMAYU were taken possession of is not known. However,Chief Minister Hemant Soren on January 24, 2024 had launched another housing scheme Abua Awas Yojana. 

He had handed over acceptance letters to 3887 beneficiaries of Khunti and 4, 000 of Simdega during a programme organised at NHPC ground in Khunti then. 

Under the scheme, three-room houses were to be made available to 8 lakh needy in the next three years. First installment of Rs 50,000 was given to the beneficiaries. 

As per the target fixed by state government, Abua houses will be given to two lakh people in the current financial year, 3.5 lakh people in the year 2025 and 2.5 lakh people in the year 2026. 

There is no reliable official data showing how many Abua houses were constructed in Jharkhand. As per the state government’s much publicised Abua scheme, the needy and destitute was to be provided three room pucca houses along with a kitchen, spread over 31 square meters constructed at the cost of Rs 2 lakh per unit. 

As of now, nearly 30 lakh applications have been received which have already been verified, as per January 24, 2024 report. 

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had launched Abua Awas Yojana by handing over acceptance letters to 3887 beneficiaries of Khunti and 4, 000 of Simdega during a programme organised at NHPC ground in Khunti. 

Under the scheme, three-room houses were to be made available to 8 lakh needy in the next three years. 

First installment of Rs 50,000 was given to these beneficiaries. As per the target fixed by state government, Abua houses were to be given to two lakh people in the current financial year, 3.5 lakh people in the year 2025 and 2.5 lakh people in the year 2026. 

The needy and destitute will be provided three room pucca houses along with a kitchen spread over 31 square meters constructed at the cost of Rs 2 lakh per unit. As of now, nearly 30 lakh applications have been received which have already been verified.