Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday met Union Minister Giriraj Singh in New Delhi and requested him to sanction 8.37 lakh houses in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-rural) for families registered on the Awas Plus portal, a senior official said.

The CM, during the meeting, informed the Union rural development and panchayati raj minister that all registered beneficiaries are poor and in need of a dwelling, according to the official. Singh, taking to Twitter, said implementation of various rural schemes such as PM Awas Yojana, PM Gram Sadak Yojana and MNREGA were discussed at the meeting.

"Met Hon'ble CM of Jharkhand @hemantSoren in Delhi today. Various rural development schemes like PM Awas Yojana, PM Gram Sadak Yojana, MNREGA etc were discussed. We are committed to the development of rural Jharkhand," he tweeted.?Earlier, in November last year, Soren had written to the Union minister to make the same request.

In the letter, he had mentioned that only 4,03,504 units were sanctioned in the financial year 2021-22, despite Awas Plus having listed10,35,895 beneficiaries. The CM had also said that 2,03,061 families were removed from the list by the Ministry of Rural Development.

"Most of these families were eligible. Due to wrong entry by local staff, they are now being deprived of homes," he had pointed out. In January 2023, Jharkhand rural development minister Alamgir Alam had also written to the Centre highlighting the matter.