Shillong, March 11: Housing Minister Marcuise N Marak on Tuesday reaffirmed his department’s commitment to providing decent housing and improving the living standards and dignity of the economically disadvantaged sections of society.
Replying to a short-duration discussion regarding the Chief Minister’s Housing Assistance Programme (CMHAP), Marak stated that the department is actively addressing existing challenges and exploring innovative ways to enhance its effectiveness.
“The department is preparing itself and open to new ideas with better methods to accomplish its goals, also keeping in mind the interest of the poor and needy of the state to continue with its service to provide decent houses and be an instrument to help uplift the lives and dignity of the poor… With changing times, the department is also geared to adapt to an environment where development is in sync with the demands of the day like sustainability, viability and environmentally friendly approach for the benefit of the citizens. I am hopeful that these pursuits through Housing Department will benefit our people in both rural and urban areas,” he said.
Marak recalled the earlier Rural Housing Scheme (RHS), under which three bundles of Corrugated Galvanized Iron (CGI) sheets were distributed as grants-in-aid to beneficiaries who managed to build their houses up to the roof level with personal resources. A total of 71,632 beneficiaries have received assistance under RHS.
However, he pointed out that the scheme’s impact was insufficient, as only a limited number of beneficiaries per district could receive assistance, causing delays and dissatisfaction among many applicants who had been waiting for years. Given these shortcomings and the increasing demands from new families, he said the government discontinued the RHS and introduced the Chief Minister’s Housing Assistance Programme (CMHAP) from 2017-18 onward, covering both rural areas through C&RD blocks and urban areas through municipalities.
Explaining CMHAP objectives, Marak said the scheme provides durable roofing materials to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) to help improve existing houses, offering three bundles of roofing materials to selected beneficiaries and to provide dwelling houses to the Low-Income Group (LIG) families living in the state by granting financial assistance Rs. 75000 to each household.
Currently, the Housing Department is implementing only the first component of CMHAP, providing aluminium roofing sheets to EWS beneficiaries based on targets in each C&RD block and urban area. The second component, providing financial assistance of Rs. 75,000, has not been widely implemented recently. However, Marak highlighted that financial assistance was provided to 130 beneficiaries in South West Garo Hills district during 2017-18, specifically covering 100 beneficiaries from Betasing C&RD block and 30 from Damalgre C&RD block.
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