PRINCE KUMAR
Ranchi, May 15: The state urban development department has completed 40% of the groundwork for the implementation of the Centre’s ambitious Light House Project (LHP), affordable housing for the urban poor under PM Was Yojana in Ranchi’s Jagarnathpur area.
Under the lighthouse project, a total of 1008 affordable flats are being built, for which construction work is going on in 8 blocks. Along with the Union Ministry of Urban and Housing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is monitoring it.
Director of Municipal Administration Rajesh Pathak has expressed hope that the lighthouse project will be completed before December 2022.
At the same time, 1521 applications have been submitted to the Ranchi Municipal Corporation for booking the flats for which a lottery will be drawn in June for allotting accommodation in the light house project.
On January 1, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Light House project. The target was to complete the project within one year, but after the foundation stone, the work had to be called off several times due to protests from the local people. Finally, on June 15, 2021, the work started after eliminating all the problems. According to the target of 1 year, the lighthouse should have been completed by June 2022, but the work was delayed by 6 months. Overall, the project will be completed 1 year behind the target.
Under this project, 1008 flats are being constructed at the 7.5-acre earmarked land for economically weaker section of society whose annual income is up to Rs 3 lakh per year. The total cost of the project is around Rs 133 crore.
Centre will invest Rs 5 lakh from its coffers for each flat, while state government will provide Rs 1 lakh. Beneficiaries will have to bear the remaining Rs 6.5 lakh on their own.
On July 3, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the works of the ongoing Light House Project in 6 states of the country including Jharkhand. During this, PM Modi was informed about the ground reality from the drone camera about the progress of the light house project which started late in Jharkhand.
During the online review of this under-construction project, it was said that the flat would be ready within a year. The sad aspect with this project which started very late in Jharkhand is that the project is far ahead in the other 5 states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh as compared to Jharkhand.
