In first Cabinet meet, aid to build 3 crore houses for poor approved | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The govt, in its first Cabinet meeting chaired by PM Modi on Monday, approved the proposal to provide financial assistance to construct three crore rural and urban houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). The plan would entail an investment of around Rs 5 lakh crore, sources said.
TOI has learned that under the urban component of PMAY, govt will provide Rs 2 lakh to each beneficiary household for constructing dwelling units or as interest subsidy.Interestingly, the govt’s proposal to expand the scheme comes a few years after the housing and urban affairs ministry had brought down the original target from 1.2 crore to approximately 1.1 crore.
More financial aid likely for rural housing
According to the plan for rural areas, each beneficiary will receive a higher financial assistance from govt, sources said. Currently, such households receive up to Rs 1.2 lakh in the plains and Rs 1.3 lakh in hilly states, difficult areas, and tribal and backward districts.
“A boost for ‘Ease of Living’ and dignity for crores of Indians! The Cabinet has decided to further expand the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and construct 3 crore additional rural and urban houses. This decision underscores the government’s commitment to addressing the housing needs of our nation and ensuring that every citizen leads a better quality of life. The expansion of PMAY also highlights our government’s commitment to inclusive growth and social welfare,” Modi tweeted on Monday evening.
In his last Independence Day speech, Modi had announced the roll out of a scheme that will benefit families that live in cities but are living in rented houses, slums, chawls and unauthorised colonies. He had said that if such people want to build their own houses, the govt will assist them with relief in interest rates and loans from banks.
Even in his election campaign, PM had announced his govt’s plan to move ahead with expanding the scheme, something that was also part of BJP’s election manifesto.
The Centre has been implementing PMAY since 2015-16 and so far 4.2 crore houses have been completed. PMAY is a flagship scheme of the Modi govt and meant to be part of the initiative for housing for all. In the past PMAY has been dovetailed with other central and state govt programmes to provide basic amenities such as household toilets, LPG connection, electricity connection, functional household tap connection as part of the “ease of living” drive.
After taking office in 2014, the Modi govt had announced the setting up a special investigation team on black money to clean up the economy. On the first day of the second term, the Modi govt had extended PM-Kisan to all 14.5 crore farmers and also introduced a pension scheme for farmers, small traders and self-employed.