A homeless man at Ambedkar Chowk near Maldhakka. (File) A homeless man at Ambedkar Chowk near Maldhakka. (File)

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale has tasked officials with identifying suitable government land in Pune district to construct homes for beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Athawale held meetings in this regard with district officials in Pune on Sunday.

“The Indian government wants all families to have their own home by 2022. State ministry officials have been directed to survey available land in rural areas and allocate it for construction of homes for those who do not own any land,” said Athawale, president of the Republican Party of India (RPI), who took charge as MoS for the second consecutive time last month.

According to ministry officials, there are at least 1.65 lakh slums in Pune of which 64,000 are occupying land owned by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), and 7,000 slums are on privately-owned land. Since the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana was introduced, at least 30,000 families have benefited. From Pune, at least 5,953 applications were received for the scheme of which 1,700 are pending for various reasons.

“The district administration has been directed to iron out the issues and speed up the land survey so that homes can be awarded within the stipulated deadline,” said Athawale.

The main challenge before the ministry is to identify land and give it to those families that have none of their own, which means at least 1,700 families in Pune city alone.

“Every village should reserve five per cent of its total area for the scheme. In case enough land is not found, the ministry may consider acquiring land from those landlords who hold larger areas within the village,” added Athawale. The central government scheme has mandated 2.5 lakh homes in urban areas and 1.5 lakh in rural areas.

Athawale also said all criminal cases against those allegedly involved in violence in the 2018 Koregaon Bhima case will be withdrawn in due course. While the demand for erecting another memorial at the site has been gaining heat, permissions for it are pending, he said.

“We need to first identify a suitable plot of land for the memorial. Then we plan to seek permission from the Archaeology Department,” he said.

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