Bhubaneswar, Jan 31 (IANS): Odisha's Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pratap Jena on Monday wrote a letter to Union Minister Giriraj Singh for sanction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).

Referring to the previous correspondences made on this issue, Jena urged Singh to sanction 1.84 lakh special PMAY-G houses as promised to Odisha in the aftermath of cyclonic storm 'Fani'-hit Odisha.

Notably, the Prime Minister had reportedly assured the Odisha government to allot PMAY-G (special) houses to the Fani affected families during his visit in May 2019.

He also demanded opening of the Awaas+ window for some time to incorporate names of eligible left out families and synchronise the data of 6.65 lakh households in the State-run rural housing portal with the Awaas+.

While the genuine demand of Odisha has not been paid heed to by the Ministry of Rural Development so far, synchronisation of data from the Karnataka government MIS into Awaas+ was allowed on January 13, 2022, Jena pointed out.

"Ignoring the repeated requests from the state will not support the cause of Odisha and it will further deprive lakhs of tribal beneficiaries living in the scheduled areas of the state and deserving poor people belonging to KBK region and western parts of the State," he said.

The Union Minister was requested to rectify this injustice being meted out to the State of Odisha and its people.

In December last year, the Chief Minister had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding sanction of the rural housing units under PMAY-G.