Shillong, Nov 30 : The Meghalaya government has set a target to build nearly 1.4 lakh affordable houses in the current fiscal year for the homeless people in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has said. According to Sangma, his government has set the target which is more than three times the houses built in the previous years under the same scheme. "To put that in perspective, the state's goal for the previous four years was approximately 40,000'50,000 dwellings, and for this year alone, 2023'24, we have set a target of 1.40 lakh," Sangma told reporters on Thursday. "This is the result of our collaboration with the Central government, and we have a goal to finish all the unfinished houses on the list," he stated. The Chief Minister further mentioned: "We are happy to inform that the Central government is cooperating, engaging and discussing with us in detail, and we have in fact now released the second tranche of funds." Almost Rs 800 crore has already been sanctioned, nearly all of the houses are now on schedule, and nearly all of them should soon begin to be built, according to Sangma. "We are hopeful that we will be able to achieve the target," he added. /IANS