Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday announced that the state government would ensure pucca houses for all eligible poor families in Himachal Pradesh who are still living in kutcha houses, asserting that no eligible family would be left out of the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). He was presiding over a high-level review meeting of the Panchayati Raj Department.
The Chief Minister said that safe housing is not only a basic necessity but also a social right of every citizen, and the government was taking concrete steps to guarantee this right. He informed that in the first phase of a survey to identify extremely poor families, 27,715 families have been identified. These families have been part of the IRDP for the past 20 years but have not yet received pucca houses. In this phase, the annual income limit was fixed at Rs 50,000, and families already owning pucca houses were excluded.
He further stated that during the second phase of the survey, families who already own pucca houses were also included, resulting in the addition of 35,355 more families to the extremely poor category. With this, the total number of identified extremely poor families in the state has risen to 63,070.
Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that in the third phase, orphaned children, persons with disabilities and widows would also be included, which would further increase the number of beneficiaries. He added that surveys would also be conducted in the fourth and fifth phases to ensure maximum coverage. Emphasizing inclusivity, he said that eligibility criteria were being progressively relaxed at each stage to ensure that no deserving family is excluded from the IRDP.
The Chief Minister also announced that the Panchayati Raj Department would be strengthened by filling vacant posts on a priority basis. He said that Junior Engineer posts would be filled in panchayats to improve the implementation and monitoring of development works.
Highlighting the government’s focus on social empowerment, he said that several welfare schemes are being implemented effectively to bring deprived, neglected and weaker sections of society into the mainstream. He added that the government’s objective goes beyond the construction of houses and aims to ensure a dignified standard of living for poor families by focusing on basic amenities such as sanitation, drinking water and livelihood opportunities.
The Chief Minister directed officers to regularly review the progress of welfare schemes and warned that negligence or delays at any level would not be tolerated. Reiterating the spirit of systemic transformation, he said that ensuring development benefits reach the last person in the queue remains the core objective of the present government.
Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh, Principal Advisor to the Chief Minister (Innovation, Digital Technologies and Governance) Gokul Butail, Secretary to the Chief Minister Rakesh Kanwar, Secretary Panchayati Raj C. Palrasu, Director Panchayati Raj Raghav Sharma and other senior officers were present at the meeting.
