Bhubaneswar: The Odisha chief secretary, AP Padhi, Friday said that 54,275 houses would be constructed in 113 urban areas of the state under Odisha Urban Housing Mission (OUHM).

Padhi, who presided over the state-level approval and management committee meeting of the  OUHM, here, stressed on strengthening of the field-level monitoring mechanism to improve the rate of housing in urban areas.

The state housing and urban development secretary, G Mathevathan, said that Rs 103.05 crore has already been disbursed into the accounts of the beneficiaries those have constructed their houses under the Mission.

Mission director Sudarsan Dalai said between July 2016 and May 2017 work orders for construction of houses have been given to a total of 24, 117 houses out of 29,797 sanctioned during the period. The target achieved in this regard is 85%, he added. In the month of November, 2017, a total of 20,345 houses have been sanctioned.

The Friday meeting sanctioned 5,133 dwelling units entailing an outlay of  Rs 156.40 crore .

Under the Mission, each dwelling unit is estimated at Rs 3 lakh. While the Centre and State chips in Rs 2 lakh. The state government provides an incentive of Rs 20,000 on completion of the house building works within four moths of getting the work order. The beneficiaries are also given Rs 8,000 for toilet construction from the Swacha Bharat Mission fund. The remaining cost of the house is borne by the beneficiary.

Forest and environment additional chief secretary Suresh Mohapatra, finance principal secretary TK Pandey, revenue secretary Dr. CS Kumar,  planning and convergence special secretary G Reddy attended the meeting.