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Minister for Rural Development CL John launching the PMAY-G on March 1 in Kohima.[/caption]
Kohima, March 1: Minister for Rural Development & REPA C L John on Wednesday launched the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G), a rural housing programme in Nagaland, at the Rural Development department’s conference hall in Kohima.
The PMAY-G was launched by the Union Government on April 1, 2016 across the country to address the gap in rural housing and to fulfil the government’s commitment to provide housing for all by 2020. The IAY housing scheme has been restructured into the PMAY-G.
Addressing the programme, the minister claimed that rural development had ‘always been the priority both for the government of India and the state government to alleviate poverty in the rural areas and improve the living standard of the rural people.’
Housing being a basic human want and necessity, he said, special focus and attention has been given ‘by launching a dedicated scheme specifically for providing houses in rural areas by successive governments,’ updates on Wednesday stated.
Towards said objective, CL John said, it should be a collective effort to ensure that the PMAY-G scheme is effectively implemented and maximum benefits derived from it.
“Proper care has to be taken by the Department to see that all the components are meaningfully availed and judiciously utilized for the benefit of the people,” he said.
The politician also said that in the case of implementation of the PMAY-G, it is the community through the Village Development Board (VDB) that will have to identify and select beneficiaries as per the SECC 2011 data. He expressed optimism that the VDBs will continue to play proactive roles and ensure that deserving beneficiaries are not left out.
Further, saying that the Nagaland government had formulated a 2030 Vision Document by incorporating all spheres of development, the Rural Development minister urged the officers to make full use of the various programmes implemented by the department ‘so that the rural people are developed at par with urban dwellers.’
Delivering the key note address, secretary for the department, Kelei Zeliang mentioned that the PMAY-G was formally launched by the Prime Minister of India on November 20, 2016. ‘In continuation of this launch,’ he explained, the state government was also ‘formally launching’ the scheme to give wide publicity of the scheme.
In order to ‘increase awareness’ about the scheme, the officer proposed that various activities may be taken up at various levels of the administration to generate awareness among beneficiaries about the scheme and its benefits.
Zeliang also pointed out some key features of the PMAY-G such as “progress of the state” and its reporting procedures. Also, he presented a brief history of rural housing programmes in India.
The launching programme was followed by training for PMAY-G on the use of AwaasSoft, and AwaasApp, among others.
