Patna: Work under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana's "Housing for all" scheme in Bihar has been disappointing, Union minister of state for rural development Ram Kripal Yadav said at a review meeting of his department's work.

Not even one per cent of the targeted 16-lakh affordable houses in Bihar have been built. But Ram Kripal blamed the earlier Grand Alliance government for the slow pace. "Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, around one crore houses had to be built in the country in the first phase (till 2022), 16 lakh of them in Bihar," Ram Kripal said. "But even after over two-and-a-half years, less than one per cent of the houses have been built in Bihar."

He said the earlier Grand Alliance government paid little interest to the scheme as it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project.

The "Housing for All" mission for urban areas, launched in June 2015, envisions every family in the country owning a pucca home with water connection, toilet facility and power supply.

The 2015-2022 mission will provide central assistance to urban local bodies and other implementing agencies through states/Union territories to provide houses to eligible families and beneficiaries.

Chaitanya Prasad, principal secretary, Urban development department, said: "Around 1.16 lakh beneficiaries have been linked under the scheme." He agreed very few houses had been built. The main reason, he said, was unavailability of land.

The department has decided to rope in private builders to build houses and hand them to beneficiaries, he said.

Under the scheme, each beneficiary would get a total of Rs 1 lakh from the Centre and the state. Another Rs 12,000 would be allotted from the Swachh Bharat fund to build toilets. Beneficiaries can rope in MGNREGA workers for construction work that warrants wages of up to Rs 16,000. Beneficiaries will also be offered a loan of Rs 20,000.

The minister also assessed the progress of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act and open defecation-free scheme in the state.