Govt to subsidise interest on housing loans for poor

The Centre is also considering a regulator for the housing sector.

The Centre is formulating the scheme to make institutional finance available to persons from lower income group (LIG) and economically weaker section (EWS) to meet their housing needs. The interest on their housing loans will be subsidised, said Union minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja.

She was speaking at the national conference on affordable housing for all in the city. "Even if we make land or tenement available at affordable price to persons from EWS and LIG strata, they don¿t get access to institutional finance for getting these houses. And to make a dream of owning the house reality for people from these sections, Central government has made a budgetary provision of Rs 30 crore to provide subsidy on the housing loans", she said.

The work of formulating the guidelines and rules is presently going on and this scheme will be launched very soon, she added.

After seeing how this experiment works in few select cities, it can be extended to all major cities and provision in Budget can be increased manifolds, she said while replying to a question from media persons on the sidelines of the conference.

She further said, Central government is thinking of enacting the law which will put restriction on developers of housing or township schemes to either provide, 10 to 15 per cent of total land for housing needs of EWS and LIG or 25 to 30 per cent of tenements in the scheme for these people.

"We people from middle class, higher middle class or higher income groups consider slums as an eye sore but at the same time we are dependent on people living in them as our maid, driver, gardener, plumber, electrician, washermen etc. often come from these shanties, so it is our duty to make them available dignified housing", Selja observed.

The Central government is also considering to introduce regulator for housing sector at national level and soon dialogue will be initiated with various stakeholders on the scope, nature and jurisdiction of such regulator, Selja added.

"Besides this my ministry will be appointing a task force under chairmanship of some eminent personality from housing sector who will submit a report to government on the path ahead for affordable housing for all", she said.