Sri Vijaya Puram, June 4: CPI (M) has demanded to review the progress of the construction of the houses under the PMAY (Urban) at Prothrapur and Brichgunj and issue suitable directions to the Municipal Council and NBCC to complete the construction work within a timeframe to be decided during such review. In a letter sent to the Chief Secretary, Andaman & Nicobar Administration, D. Ayyappan, Secretary, CPI (M) A & N State Organising Committee further requested the Administration to urge the Canara Bank not to begin the payment of loan instalment or carry out any coercive measures till the flats are allotted to the beneficiaries under the PMAY (U) scheme as they are unable to pay both the room rent in which they are presently staying and the loan instalments simultaneously.
Drawing the attention of the Chief Secretary to the hardship being faced by the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awaz Yojana (Urban) in these islands, Ayyappan stated in the letter that the Andaman & Nicobar Administration had identified 329 beneficiaries for allotment of flats under the PMAY (Urban) scheme at Port Blair. The Municipal Council was entrusted with the task of constructing the flats. Nearly 206 beneficiaries were finally selected and they had deposited Rs. 90,000/- each to the Municipal Council. CPI (M) Secretary further stated that for construction of the flats, the Municipal Council asked all the beneficiaries to apply for housing loan from the Canara Bank, Mohanpura Branch. The construction of the flats was handed over to the National Building Construction Company Ltd (NBCC), a central government undertaking. Two sites were identified by the Administration at Brichgunj and Prothrapur for construction of flats for these 206 beneficiaries.
Ayyappan further stated in the letter that the Canara Bank had sanctioned loan of Rs. 8 lakhs to each of these 206 beneficiaries and the first instalment of loan of Rs. 2.40 lakh per beneficiary was transferred to the Port Blair Municipal Council about two years ago. It was assured to all the beneficiaries that the construction of the flats will be completed and handed over to the beneficiaries by the end of 2024. The beneficiaries were also informed that the repayment of the loan will begin only after the flats are handed over to the beneficiaries.
Blaming the Administration for the slow progress of the construction work, CPI (M) Secretary stated that in Prothrapur, construction of only 27 flats was started while in Brichgunj, only the ground levelling work is completed and there is no scope of handing over of these 206 flats to the beneficiaries in the next two years. He further brought to the notice of the Chief Secretary that despite this slow progress of work, by violating the earlier assurance given to the beneficiaries, the Canara Bank has started recovering the payment of loan already sanctioned to the beneficiaries from the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. Ayyappan further stated in his letter that now the beneficiaries who are all staying in rented houses have to pay the room rent as well as the loan instalments to Canara Bank. This is an unjustified action on the part of the Andaman & Nicobar Administration towards these 206 poor families who were assured of houses under the PMAY (Urban) scheme of the central government.
Ayyappan stated that while some of the State Governments on the mainland like Kerala are constructing and allotting flats to the shelterless people in the State free of cost, the poor beneficiaries in Andaman & Nicobar Islands are made to run from pillar to post for a house which was assured to them few years back. The requests made by these beneficiaries to the Municipal Council and Canara Bank not to start the loan repayment till they get the promised flats under the PMAY (U), did not yield any positive result and the beneficiaries are put to unnecessary mental tension and agony. Those who are unable to pay the loan instalments are treated as defaulters and their CIBIL score, etc are likely to be shown as grave defaulters.