YSR initials added to the name of a flagship rural housing scheme is costing Andhra Pradesh dearly

Andhra Pradesh's decision to add YSR Congress' initials to PMAY-G scheme has resulted in Union Finance Ministry putting a hold on ₹4,000 crore funds. Despite State agreeing to remove branding, funds have not been released. Monitoring team dispatched to check if State has removed YSR initials.

Three small letters — YSR — added to the Union government’s flagship rural housing scheme, thus rebranding it to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-YSR, are proving costly for Andhra Pradesh.

According to sources, the State’s decision to add the ruling YSR Congress’ initials to the scheme’s name has resulted in the Union Finance Ministry putting a temporary hold on ₹4,000 crore that the State should get under a scheme for “special assistance to state for capital investment”, apart from pending PMAY-Gramin funds worth ₹1,300 crore. In fact, the funds have still not been released despite the State government agreeing to remove its branding and logo from the scheme.

For an identical violation in West Bengal, where the State government rebranded the scheme as the Bangla Awas Yojana, Central funds have not been released since 2022. This financial year too, funds were not released to West Bengal, due to the “non-submission of satisfactory compliance of the directives of the ministry.”  

Centrally-sponsored schemes are funded by both Central and State governments, in a 60:40 ratio.

The Union Rural Development Ministry wrote its first letter flagging Andhra Pradesh’s violation on July 17, noting that instead of PMAY-G, the State had called the scheme PMAY-YSR, and used its own logo alongside the Union government’s logo.

On August 7 and 8, Union Rural Development Secretary Shailesh Singh wrote to the State’s Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy, noting that the “core features” of centrally sponsored schemes, including PMAY-G, are “unalterable and funds from Government of India can flow only if the core features of the scheme are adhered to in entirety.” He also sought to remind the State of the guidelines issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, which lays this down as an entry condition in the scheme for “special assistance to state for capital investment”.

“While we do acknowledge the contribution of the state of Andhra Pradesh in providing state top-up and sand for construction, it is essential to acknowledge and preserve the uniformity of the PMAY-G by not altering the design of the scheme which has been approved by the Union Cabinet,” Mr. Singh wrote on August 8.