Odisha to build 92,000 Houses for Rural poor under Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana

Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana is a rural housing scheme being run by the Odisha Government to provide pucca houses in rural areas.

The main aim of Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana is to provide houses to poor and converting all Kutcha Houses to Pucca Houses in rural areas. Housing is the fundamental human need which is the basic requirement for survival.

The State Government of Odisha is committed to convert all the Kutcha houses to Pucca houses by the year 2019. The scheme was first launched in the name of “Mo-Kudia” during 2008 and later it was named as “Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana” on 2014. To make the scheme implementable and practical in all the districts of the State there are some of the guidelines.

Objective of the Scheme: The main objective of the scheme is to convert all Kutcha houses to Pucca houses in rural houses of the state in a fixed time frame. A Pucca house means that it should be able to withstand normal wear and tear due to usage and natural forces including climatic conditions. Biju Pucca Ghar (Special) has provision of houses to the people/families affected due to natural/man made calamities like fire, flood, cyclone, earth quake, elephant menace, communal violence, LWE violence, major law and order problems, etc.

A Pucca house is one with the following characteristics:

1. Material – It should have foundation, wall and roof of permanent material.
2. Wall Material – Fly ash bricks, Burnt bricks, stones (packed with lime and cement),

Cement concrete, timber etc.

1. Roof Material – Tiles, GCI sheets, asbestos cement sheet, RBC (Reinforced Brick Concrete) and timber etc.
2. Life time – The extended life of the structure must be a minimum of 30 years.

A Kutcha house is one in which walls and roof is made of materials such as un-burnt bricks, bamboos, mud, grass, reeds, thatch, loosely packed stones etc.  Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana is a State plan scheme funded by the State Government. It has an annual budget of Rs. 330 crores and it would be substantially enhanced to Rs. 3000 crores.

The main target group of the Scheme:

1. The genuinely poor families excluded in BPL survey.
2. Poor women in distress condition like deserted/divorced, widows, transgender, freed bonded labours, and liberated manual scavengers are also target group.
3. Mentally challenged, physically challenged (over 40%), adult orphans of government registered institutions, victims of leprosy and AIDS, parents of children affected by AIDS
4. PVTG/PTG, extremely poor and vulnerable groups (EPVG)
5. Victims of River/sea inundation.
6. The poor women in distress, physically challenged, (over 40%), mentally challenged, victims of domestic violence, destitute widows, women headed households, adult orphans of Government registered institutions, victims of leprosy and AIDS will be eligible to get a house.

Setting of the Target: a) The Physical Target for each district will be set by the department annually on the basis of numbers of rural households having Kutcha houses as per SECC 2011. b) The District Collector will be distributing the physical target among Blocks, GPs and villages. c)Government may also itself set Block/GP/Village wise target as per the above formula. d) The number of houses allotted to SC/ST should not be less than their proportionate population in the District except in the case that all the eligible households of a particular category are already covered in which case the corresponding target will stand converted to general category. e) Interchange of allotments between SC & ST is not permitted. f) At least 3% of the houses will be reserved for people with disability (PWD) from each category. In-case of non-availability of sufficient number of PWD persons, the left over quotas will be re-allotted among non PWD beneficiaries of same category.

The BPGY has two components: BPGY (Normal) – The household from SECC 2011 survey list having Kutcha house are covered under this scheme.

BPGY (Special) – Rural household affected by natural/man made calamities like fire, flood, cyclone, earthquake elephant menace, communal violence, major law and order problem etc. and extremely poor, vulnerable and deserving households who need Pucca house on compassionate ground.

Target Group and Eligibility in the two Components:  BPGY (Normal) – For being eligible the household must have been registered as such in SECC 2011 list and must be ordinarily residing in the village. The household must not have pucca house as per SECC 2011 and not constructed pucca house in the meantime.

The household must not have availed pucca house under any scheme of the Government.

BPGY (Special) – The household whose house has been fully damaged by natural/man made calamities like fire, flood, cyclone, earthquake elephant menace, communal violence, major law and order problem etc.

Victims of river/sea inundation who need re-location/shifting.

Household whose house is fully collapsed/ washed away/fully damaged due to the circumstances mentioned above will be eligible to be covered under this BPGY. The house should not withstand with any other Government Scheme.

Selection Procedure:  BPGY (Normal) – Selection of beneficiaries from this list through lottery conducted in a fair and transparent manner. Additional detailed procedure for conduct of lottery may be communicated by Panchayati Raj Department separately. The lottery will be conducted at GP headquarters. If for some reason, the lottery cannot be conducted at the GP headquarters, then it can be conducted at Block Headquarters by the BDO.

BPGY (Special) – The selection of beneficiaries for BPGY (Special) will be done by a District Level Committee (DLC) consisting of District Collector, Hon’ble MPs of District, Hon’ble MLAs of the district, President Zilla Parishad, PD, DRDA-cum-EO, ZP.

The District Level Committee will approve the list after which it will be communicated to the BDOs by the District Collector.

Fund Allocation : Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) is a State Plan Scheme funded by the State Government.  The Total budget allocation for a financial year will be distributed between two components i.e. BPGY (Normal) & BPGY (Special) at the ratio of 90:10.

10% of total physical target which is reserved for BPGY (Special) will be retained at the District Level.

In the event of sufficient number of beneficiaries not available for BPGY (Special), the residual of the said 10% will be covered to BPGY (Normal) by the District Collector.

Unit Cost: The Unit Cost under Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana for construction of new Pucca house is Rs.70, 000 for non-IAP districts and Rs, 75, 000 for IAP (Integrated Action Plan) districts. This can be revised by the State Government from time to time.

A new house means a house constructed with a minimum built up area of 20 Sq.Mt. excluding the Toilet.

The funds under the scheme are released in installments on the basis of the progress in construction.

The homes under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana are constructed by the beneficiary itself with financial support from the state government. The beneficiaries are free to set the layout, size, and design of their Pucca homes as per their preferences.

The State Government of Odisha has set up a target of constructing about 2.5 Lakh houses in the state within next one year. The housing units will be constructed in rural areas in the state.

Out of the total 2.5 Lakh houses, the state government will develop 1.20 Lakh houses under the centrally sponsored housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and 92 thousand houses will be developed under the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana which is sponsored by the state itself.