All Homes Under PMAY Initiative Will Feature Solar Power: Fadnavis

Mumbai, Dec 30 (NationPress) Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday mandated the administration to initiate the 'Maha Awas' campaign to guarantee the effective, rapid, and high-quality execution of rural housing initiatives with public participation, stating that all homes under this scheme should be solar-powered.

A minimum of 13 lakh houses will receive approval under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). To facilitate this, the first tranche of Rs 450 crore should be promptly allocated to beneficiaries of the housing scheme.

The Chief Minister assessed the 100-day action plan from the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department at the Sahyadri Guest House.

While overseeing the development of rural roadways in the state, he instructed that these should be constructed with cement. Chief Minister Fadnavis emphasized that rural road projects must not experience delays. The standards for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and access routes should be redefined. Immediate action is required for the construction of ‘Sakav’ (causeways) and ‘Panand’ (access roads) in the Konkan region.

Funds have been allocated for every hamlet, and attention must be directed towards monitoring the completion of these projects, stated the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister instructed that various schemes, including rural housing, Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission (MARLM), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, National Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the Road and Bridge Repair Monitoring Program, and Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Gramin Tirtha Yatra Sthal Yojana (the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Rural Pilgrimage Site Scheme), should be effectively executed within 100 days.

On Monday, Fadnavis also directed that efforts should be concentrated on migrant workers, and they should be issued smart ration cards. Furthermore, while distributing these smart cards, provisions should be made to ensure that migrant workers, regardless of their home state, can access food grains at any fair price shop throughout Maharashtra. The Chief Minister reviewed the Department of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection’s 100-day action plan.

He urged officials to guarantee the proper distribution of food grains to beneficiaries, install electronic weighing scales at all fair price shops, and issue smart ration cards to all ration card holders.

To ensure timely distribution of food supplies to beneficiaries, efforts should be initiated to create “One Village, One Warehouse”. Vehicles should be geo-tagged, and the “One Nation, One Ration Card” policy is being implemented across the state. In accordance with this, priority should be given to migrant workers in food grain distribution.

The Chief Minister instructed that to allow underprivileged beneficiaries to celebrate festivals with joy, special festival rations should be distributed by the state during festive seasons, and a calendar for this distribution should be developed.

He further directed that in the coming year, 25 lakh new beneficiaries should be added to the public distribution system, with their e-KYC and verification completed. He emphasized the necessity to inspect ration cards of individuals who have not collected food grains in the last six months, remove deceased individuals from ration cards, and re-verify beneficiaries over the age of 100. A special campaign should be conducted to integrate 14 lakh non-computerized beneficiaries into the ration card system.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also instructed officials from the transport department to implement policies for scrapping all vehicles older than 15 years and to increase the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reduce road accidents as per the agreement signed with Google, ensuring the transport sector in the state remains safe, secure, and sustainable, alongside launching the EV Policy within the next 3 years. He reviewed the forthcoming 100-day plans of the transport, ports, and Maharashtra Airport Authority departments.

To enhance transportation services, the state plans to introduce bike taxi and maxi cab services. Additionally, over 13,000 old government vehicles will be scrapped, the CM directed, adding that decisions regarding taxi, auto, and bus fares should also be made.

He requested the administration to develop SOPs to ensure the safety of buses, stating that engineering solutions are necessary to prevent accidents in the Ghat region.

The development of ports and airports was also a topic of discussion during the meeting.