Kerala Agrees to Union Govt on PMAY Logo in Front of Project Houses

Kerala government has walked back on its previous stance of placing dignity of beneficiaries above and resisting government logos in front of the houses built via Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and agrees to the stipulations put forward by the union government.

30,000 homeless beneficiaries are set to get houses built by the government under the PMAY-Urban scheme, with the state government set to sign a Rupees 450 Cr MoU with the union government.

The scheme provides financial assistance to homeless persons and their families with homes, to bring down homelessness among Indian households.

The project, Under the revised Central guidelines, 25 per cent of the total project cost has to be borne by the homeless beneficiary. For the total assistance of Rs 4 lakh per homeless beneficiary, the state government will provide Rs 1 lakh, while the Centre will contribute Rs 1.50 lakh.

The remaining Rs 1.5 lakh amount will have to be borne by the municipality and the beneficiary, the statement said.

One of the houses built in Kerala under the PMAY Scheme, finished without keeping the logo.

Under the earlier PMAY-Urban LIFE scheme which has been implemented in the state till now, homeless beneficiaries who own land receive total assistance of Rs 4 lakh per house. Of this, Rs 1.50 lakh is the Central share, Rs 50,000 is the state share and Rs 2 lakh is contributed by the municipality.

While the Union government pays under 50 percent of the total assistance, the demand set by the centre for mandatory Project logo which might include the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face, was earlier resisted by the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government.

The LDF government was of the stand that keeping the project logo painted in front of their houses would affect the beneficiaries’ dignity, as the houses which one live in is also a source of pride to oneself. Houses built on the land under the beneficiaries' ownership need not have the logo that would make the beneficiaries feel little, Pinarayi Vijayan had said, while he was the Chief Minister of Kerala.

Pinarayi Vijayan earlier told the press that the Union Government had threatened the State Government of taking back its contribution to the project, if they did not agree to keep the logo in front of the houses built through this project.

Now, with the current state government led by VD Satheesan agreeing to the Union Government’s demands without any objections have raised questions over the UDF Government’s approach over the dignity of the beneficiaries of the scheme.

Reacting to this development, CPI(M) state Secretary said “Labelling houses on a project name is unacceptable. It is okay to keep these names for hospitals or other monuments. Having your own house is a matter of pride for everyone.”

“Labelling these houses that imply it is a free house is simply unacceptable” MV Govindan added.