51 cities to get affordable homes

The Maharashtra government approved the Prime Minister Housing Scheme on Tuesday paving the way for affordable houses in 51 cities, including Mumbai. The move is part of the state’s housing policy that aims at building 11 lakh affordable houses by 2022.

The approval came in a Cabinet meeting held at Mantralaya that selected 51 cities having a population of more than one lakh for the scheme. “The Cabinet also decided to implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream scheme ‘Housing for All’ by 2022 in Maharashtra. This scheme covers rehabilitation of slum dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource,” chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

“It will also cover promotion of affordable housing for weaker sections through credit linked subsidy and affordable housing in partnership with the public and private sectors and subsidy for beneficiary-led individual houses for construction or enhancement,” Mr Fadnavis added.

The Centre and state will contribute Rs 1 lakh each toward each house built in the scheme. The state has to fulfil a few conditions laid by the Centre to avail the funds. The conditions include a development plan for the selected cities, time frame for construction, one window system for clearances etc.

As per the norms of the Centre, the financial criteria for economically weaker section would be Rs 3 lakh, for the lower income group it would be Rs 3-Rs 6 lakh. In the first phase of the scheme, slums will be rehabilitated at the same place with available resources. This will not be applicable for cities that come under a Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, a release from the CMO said. In the second phase, the houses will be developed for economically weaker and lower income groups. The state is going to take help from banks, as it will make available loans for 15 years with an interest of 6.6 per cent. In the third phase, private partners are expected to participate in the scheme. In the last phase, the economically weaker sections can build a house individually by complying with conditions of the scheme, the release said.