Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren announced the launch of ‘Abua Awas Yojna’ in his Independence Day speech on Tuesday and said the state government would spend over Rs.15,000 crore under the scheme in the next two years.
Under the scheme, the state is planning to develop and provide three-room houses free of cost to the poor and needy.
“We had promised to provide houses to the poor. Today, I announce to launch the Abuaa Awas Yojna. Under the scheme, we would provide 3-room houses to the needy. The government would spend over Rs.15,000 crore under the scheme in the next two years,” Soren said.
Though the chief minister did not share any blueprint of the scheme or deadline for its launch, according to the officials familiar with the development, the scheme would run separately from the ongoing central government ‘PM Awas Yojna’, aiming to provide housing for all.
“The PM Awas Yojna is set to end by March 2024. The Abuaa Awas Yojna would be fully funded by the state government. Under the scheme, the state government is estimated to provide housing to around 7.5 lakh people in the rural areas,” said an official of the state government on the condition of anonymity.
Around 900,000 applications are pending in the state for houses under the PM Awas Yojna, all of whose applications remain pending under that scheme and all possible new beneficiaries would be covered under the Abau Awas Yojana put forth by CM Soren, said another official.
Providing three-room houses to the needy was an electrical promise of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in the 2019 assembly elections.
