The Administrative Council (AC), which met here under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal of the Housing & Urban Development Department to provide interest-free loan up to Rs. 2 lakhs to the urban houseless economically weaker section beneficiaries under ‘Beneficiary-led Construction (BLC)’ component of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Urban (PMAY-U).
The beneficiaries have experienced the difficulty in mobilizing their contribution as they come from economically weaker sections and have to contribute higher share as compared to other States/UT, as a result of which the construction of dwelling units under this component of PMAY(U) could not achieve the desired targets.
The beneficiaries of this component have demanded enhancement of assistance in their favour so that they can complete their houses within the targeted date of the Mission.
“In view of practical difficulties faced by the beneficiaries in arranging financial resources, the government agreed to provide interest subsidy to all the eligible beneficiaries,” an official handout said. The interest-free loan, it said, will be an additional benefit over and above the financial assistance of Rs 1.66 lakhs which is already being provided to the beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Urban; with this the beneficiaries can now avail Rs.3.66 lakh for construction of their dwelling units under this component of PMAY(U).
Earlier, the UT of J&K has also provided 25% as mobilization advance to the beneficiaries under this component, so as to ensure commencement of construction work of their dwelling units.
The tenure of the BLC interest-free loan has been fixed at ten years and includes a moratorium of six months, repayable through monthly installments of Rs. 2500. At present the scheme will benefit 41992 beneficiaries under this component.
The decision is a part of the government’s resolve to provide affordable housing to the economically weaker section of the society and “provides supplementary financial assistance so as to realize the vision of the Prime Minister by providing Housing For All by 2022”.