It is like a Dipawali gift to all the homeless people of Jharkhand from the Chief Minister of the State Raghubar Das. The State Government has removed the deadlock over policy coming in the way of the implementation of the Housing for All by 2022 scheme, also known as Prime Minister Awas Yojna, rolled out by the Narendra Modi Government in 2015.
The Cabinet on Tuesday explained two of the components of the scheme meant for slum dwellers and for landless persons willing to settle in urban centers. “The Cabinet has approved the proposal for developing slums into G+3 structures on PPP mode. The qualified developer selected after tendering would have to build houses for the poor on 55 per cent of the slum land and can use rest 45 per cent for commercial or residential purposes and sale it to anyone as per the master plan approved. This apart, the Center and the State would contribute Rs one lakh each for each dwelling while the contribution of beneficiary would be nearly Rs 1.5 lakh. Rest would come from the developer depending on the bid,” said Urban Development Secretary Ajoy Kumar Singh.
It is estimated that cost of each of the unit coming in slums would be around Rs 7-8 lakh which would be 1 BHK accommodation with carpet area anywhere between 270 to 300 square meters. The Secretary added that the survey conducted for this purpose has found out requirement for 53,000 such units in the State.
“It has also been decided that registry of the dwellings would be done at Re 1,” added Ajoy Kumar Singh. Also a State Development Fund would be setup through which grants needed to be paid to the developer in case of commercially unviable projects or premium received in case of prime locations would be regulated.
The second one is for providing affordable housing in urban areas to the landless persons. “Housing plan would be the same for this. Government land would be used for building houses for 74,000 families identified. Cost has been estimated to Rs 7-8 lakh of which Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh come from the Center and the State Governments, respectively. Contribution of beneficiary would be between Rs 5.5 lakh to Rs 6.6 lakh for which easy collateral-free bank loans would be facilitated by the Government,” he added.
The scheme would be for all the Nagar Nigams of the State. A committee headed by DCs elsewhere and by the Town Commissioners in Ranchi and Dhanbad would shortlist the beneficiaries. He also clarified that the person should be residing since July 17, 2015 in any particular city area for applying. Also, the person getting the house cannot sale it to till 15 years or before paying back all the loans, if taken.
“Other conditions are that the beneficiaries should not have taken benefit of any Government housing scheme prior to that, should have a bank account and PAN whereas Aadhaar is not mandatory with annual income not above Rs three lakh.
In another important decision the Cabinet brought out lucrative plan for relocating 1,000 families residing in eight villages inside the core and buffer zones of the Palamu Tiger Reserve.
“Relocation would affect villages falling into 1130 square kilometer area of the PTR from where 1000 families are to be voluntarily relocated. Against the existing Rs 10 lakh as compensation additional Rs 5 lakh would be provided from the State Government to the villagers if they opt to relocate. Besides the new colony for them would be provided with necessary infrastructure facilities,” said Home Secretary SKG Rahate.
