Where is Gujarat's proposal on BPL families in IAY, asks Jairam Ramesh

Ahmedabad: Gujarat government, which recently formulated a policy to build affordable houses for urban poor and lower middle class population in the state, is yet to submit any proposal for the year 2013-14 for the Centre’s Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) for BPL households. This came out in a letter written by Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh to Chief Minister Narendra Modi in which the former has expressed “surprise” over not receiving the proposal from Gujarat government even almost five months after the financial year started. [caption id=“attachment_1051245” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  This file picture of Jairam Ramesh has been used for representational purposes only. PTI. [/caption] “I am writing to express my surprise at the fact that we have yet to receive any proposal from Gujarat for Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) for BPL households in 2013-14,” Ramesh said in the letter. Copies of the letter, dated August 20, were distributed to reporters today by state unit Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi. Ramesh also mentioned that from 2013-14, the unit cost of IAY houses has been raised to Rs 70,000 from Rs 45,000 in normal areas and to Rs 75,000 from 48,500 in special areas. “Other than Punjab, Gujarat is the only state for which proposals are yet to be received. In 2012-13, the Centre had sanctioned Rs 460 crore for IAY in Gujarat,” the letter said. The state government had last month cleared four schemes under ‘Mukhya Mantri Aawas Samrudhi Yojna’ aimed at building 21 lakh affordable houses in five years for the urban poor and lower middle income population. The subsidised housing had become a major issue in 2012 Assembly elections. Ramesh said in the letter that “the initial target for Gujarat for 2013-14 is 1,07,880 houses. I would request you to kindly instruct your officers to ensure that proposals for the 13-14 are submitted at the earliest”. Modi, who is viewed as the prospective prime ministerial candidate of BJP for 2014 elections, has time and again attacked UPA government over “mis-governance”. Under the Indira Awas Yojana, 75 per cent of funds are provided by Centre and rest borne respective state government. PTI