Chennai, Sep 22 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu government will constitute a task force to provide land to the landless beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G) scheme.

This task force is being constituted under the Centre's directive as the government has taken this as priority to provide land to the landless to benefit them under the government's flagship programme of "housing for all by 2022".

The state Rural development ministry announced this in a statement on Tuesday.

The Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management will be the chairperson of the four-member task force. Other members of the panel are Secretary of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj,(Vice-Chairperson), Commissioner of land administration (member), and Director of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (member/ convenor).

The Union government had in a recent communique to state government intimated that while providing land to the landless is its major priority and that the slow progress of the PMAY-G scheme was due to the delay in providing land to the landless. It has directed the state government to constitute a task force and to immediately work on the project and provide land to the landless in the state.

The Union Ministry for Rural Development had directed the state government to complete the formalities of providing land to the landless beneficiaries under the scheme within a two-month period.

As per the provisions of the PMAY-G scheme, providing land to the landless is the responsibility of the states and is a time-bound programme.

A senior official in the state Rural development ministry while speaking to IANS said, "The constitution of the task force will accelerate the process and we are expecting a lot of activities in the days to come. The government will have to provide land to the landless under the PMAY-G scheme. The 'housing for all by 2022' is a flagship programme of the Central government and for that land is important."