Business Standard

Haryana readies housing policy for BPL families

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Vijay C Roy New Delhi/ Chandigarh
Over 3.5 lakh families below the poverty line (BPL) and, or, from the economically weaker sections (EWS) in Haryana are likely to avail the state government’s assistance for construction of houses under its new housing policy — Priyadarshini Awaas Yojna, stated a top state official.

On the line of ‘Indira Awaas Yojna’, the policy details would be sent to the state Cabinet for approval and is likely to be launched from April 1.This was stated by Ram Niwas, principal secretary, rural development & panchayat, Haryana, while addressing the state level banker’s committee meet here on Thursday.

The total outaly for the scheme is Rs 1,650 crore, excluding beneficiary share. For its implementation, the government would seek a Rs 950-crore loan from Hudco (Housing and Urban Development Corporation), apart from making a budgetary provision of Rs 700 crore in the forthcoming state budget.
 

He added: “We have formulated a new scheme each for rural and urban areas for the BPL (below poverty line) and EWS (economic weaker section) families. Under the scheme for the rural areas, families which have been granted 100 square-yard land by the government and whose application was on pendency list in the ‘Indira Awaas Yojna’ are eligible. For such areas, the cost of dwelling worked out to be Rs 1.5 lakh. Of the total cost, Rs 90,000 would be given by the state government, while for the rest of the cost, the beneficiary can get it financed by banks. According to the department, there are about 2 lakh beneficiaries in rural areas under this category.”

“Similarly, we have formulated separate policy for urban areas for about 1.5 lakh beneficiaries. There are policies of state government under which 20 per cent of the total plot developed by private developers would be transferred to the Housing Board at a subsidised rate of Rs 500 per square yard for construction of flats for BPL families. We are going to construct three storeyed houses on these plots for BPL and EWS families. In the urban areas, the total cost of dwellings would be around Rs 4 lakh. Out of the total cost, 50 per cent would be borne by the beneficiary, while the rest may be by bankers. In urban areas there are about 1.5 lakh beneficiaries in the state.”

Addressing the bankers, he requested them to come forward and finance the beneficiaries. Responding to Niwas request, the Bankers agreed in-principle to finance beneficiaries. Speaking to Business Standard, Rakesh Sethi, Punjab National Bank, Executive Director, said, “This is indeed a very good policy and we see a business potential of Rs 1,000 crore under the scheme.”

Under the scheme the state government aims to construct atleast 2 lakh houses in next two years.

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First Published: Feb 14 2013 | 8:40 PM IST

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