The J&K government on Thursday rebutted former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s allegations on the allotment of land to the homeless in the UT.

Mehbooba told the media on Wednesday that the census of 2011 had stated that there are only 19,047 homeless in J&K while the Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha said that so far 1.45 lakh landless people had been provided 5 Marlas each to build their homes.

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In a detailed rebuttal to Mufti’s allegations, the government said, “PMAY (Grameen) phase -1 started on 1.4.2016 in which 2,57,349 houseless cases were identified in J&K in SECC data 2011 and after due verification by Gram Sabhas, out of which 1,36,152 cases were sanctioned for J&K under the overall commitment of Hon’ble Prime Minister for ‘Housing for all by 2022’.

“Per unit assistance of Rs 1.30 lakh is provided per house by Govt of India under the scheme. Minimum size of the house prescribed is 1 marla.

“The Government conducted Awaas+ survey during January, 2018 to March, 2019 to identify those beneficiaries which claimed to have been left out under the 2011 SECC.

“The data of beneficiaries captured through Awaas+ was utilized to fill the gaps between overall target and eligible beneficiaries made available from SECC Permanent Wait List (PWL) PMAY PHASE-II(AWAS Plus) Grameen started from 2019 onwards based on a survey of 2018-19, done pan India, in which 2.65 Lakhs houseless cases were recorded in J&K and only target of 63,426 houses was given to J&K. These houses have been sanctioned in 2022 only.

“This phase of the scheme is getting over on 31.3.24.

“Based on good performance of J&K in sanction and completion of houses, on 30th May 2023, 1,99,550 more PMAY AWAS PLUS houses have been sanctioned as a special dispensation, in order to ensure housing for all for all 2.65 lakh houseless persons, who were part of PWL2019.

“Survey is based on clear guidelines on the basis of following criteria: 1. All houseless

2. Those living in zero, one or two room kachha houses

3. Multi layered prioritization as defined in section 4 of the scheme guidelines. Those houseless persons who don’t have land or clear title of land or have that category of land where construction is not permitted, couldn’t be sanctioned house, even if they are part of this permanent waiting list.

“Based on the field level survey, out of 1,99,550 total, 2711 cases were identified who don’t have clear title of land and fall in following categories:

1. People residing on State land;

2. People residing on Forest land;

3. People residing in Rakhs and Farms land, where construction is not permitted;

4. People sitting on Custodian land; and

5. Land allotted to displaced people by the government near Dachigam park for agriculture purposes, where construction is not permitted.

6. Any other category of cases which are otherwise eligible for housing but do not have any land available for construction.”

“As the government cannot sanction houses to someone who doesn’t have land, therefore in order to ensure housing for all, the government has taken a policy decision to allot 5 marlas of land to these 2711 cases so that they can get houses.

“Therefore, Ms. Mufti’s statement that the government is allotting land to 2 lakh odd persons is factually incorrect and all statements made by her are without having any understanding of the PMAY scheme and Revenue laws of the J&K which permit allotment of land to landless, for housing purposes. So neither any change in the law has been made nor any outsider is being allotted land.

“These 2,711 cases are part of the 2018-19 PWL of houseless persons of J&K, who were debarred from having house, just because either they didn’t have land or the land they have is state/forest/any other category of land where construction is not permitted. Data being quoted by her is of Housing & urban affairs, while PMAYG scheme is of Ministry of Rural Development for rural areas of J&K,” the official statement said.