Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday launched two important schemes to fulfil the housing needs of the poor.

These will provide Rs 60,000 to them to buy land to construct houses and Rs 1.20 lakh to renovate the dilapidated abodes constructed under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY).

The housing land scheme for the poor has been named Mukhya Mantri Vas Sthal Kraya Sahayata Yojana, while the one under which money would be given to renovate Indira Awas Yojana houses would be called Mukhya Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana.

Nitish had announced the two schemes during his Independence Day speech this year. These will be implemented in the state by the rural development department.

Incidentally, the target population of the two schemes are Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Extremely Backward Castes (EBC), the segments that Nitish has been sincerely trying to woo recently.

Asserting that he would launch several new development and welfare schemes during the two-year-long celebrations to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary in 2019, Nitish said they would be aimed at the uplift of the poor.

“The beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) are getting Rs 1.20 lakh to construct houses. A majority of them hail from the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and have been selected on the basis of the Socio-Economic Caste Census conducted by the central government, however, they do not have land to build houses,” Nitish said.

“We don’t want them to get deprived from the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The state government will provide Rs 60,000 to them to help them buy land for housing. Such purchases will not attract registration fee,” Nitish added.

The chief minister said he witnessed during his tours across the state that the houses built under Indira Awas Yojana before 1996 have become dilapidated. SC, ST and EBC families reside in them.

“Benefits of other government welfare schemes will have no meaning for these families if they do not have proper housing facilities. We have decided to provide Rs 1.20 lakh to them from the state funds to help them renovate their houses. Today money has been transferred to the bank accounts of over 200 people,” Nitish said.

While the land purchase scheme will benefit 22,000 people over the next five months, the house renovation scheme will benefit over 20,000 people during the same period.

Nitish added that electricity connection to every household in the state will be provided by the end of this year, while toilets will be provided to them over the next one year.