'No proposal for more assistance for fishermen houses'

Union minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday said there is no proposal at present for any new scheme to provide more financial assistance towards construction of houses for fishermen.

He also told the Lok Sabha that the department has not received any information about the indebtedness of fishermen due to loans taken for completing construction of their houses.

Under a central government scheme, financial assistance is provided to fishermen for construction of houses at par with Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-Gramin). An amount of Rs 1.20 lakh per unit is given in general states and Rs 1.30 lakh per unit in Himalayan and North Eastern states. "During the last five years, central funds of Rs 104.69 crore have been released to States/ Union Territories for construction of 18,920 numbers of houses for fishermen," he said.

According to the minister, presently, there is no proposal under consideration in the department to implement any new scheme for providing more financial assistance towards the construction of fishermen houses. Responding to supplementary questions by some members from Kerala, Singh said the department has not received representation from the state government to increase the amount of financial assistance for construction of housing units to fishermen.

During the Question Hour, Panchayati Raj minister Narendra Singh Tomar said governance of panchayats is the primary responsibility of state government or Union Territory administration concerned. In reply to a supplementary query related to Tamil Nadu, Tomar said gram panchayat polls should be held in the state and the Centre has been urging Tamil Nadu to conduct polls.