To construct one crore houses in rural areas under its flagship Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) in the next three years, the Modi Government plans to take a loan of Rs21,975 crore from NABARD. The amount will be paid off through budgetary allocation after 2022.
The need to take loan, for the first time for the rural housing sector, has been felt due to higher budgets following enhanced allocation to Rs1.20 lakh and Rs1.30 lakh respectively for construction of each pucca house in plains and ‘hilly or difficult areas’.
Overall, the Government will need Rs81,975 crore for construction of dwelling units in rural areas in three years from 2016-17 to 2018-19 under the PMAY-G.
In the first year, 30 lakh houses will be constructed, said Birender Singh Chaudhary, Union Rural Development Minister at a workshop on rural housing on Wednesday.
Under the previous rural housing scheme (Indira Awas Yojana), the financial assistance of Rs70,000 in plain areas and Rs75,000 in hilly/difficult areas, including IAP districts, was provided to the rural BPl households for construction of a dwelling unit.
However, the scheme has been criticised as most of the houses constructed under it are said to be inadequate and in dilapidated condition.
learning lessons from the IAY, the Minister stressed on ensuring all basic infrastructure, complete with power and potable water and other facilities while constructing a house in rural areas under the scheme. We will also ensure building houses having life span of at least 30-35 years.
The demand for houses is likely to come from big States like Bihar (around 16-17 per cent of total demand for rural houses), Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.
Chaudhary said the Centre will use socio-economic caste census (SECC-2011) data for identification of beneficiaries. Pitching in for cost-effective technology for construction of houses, the Minister asked the stakeholders to suggest designs and materials that reduce the cost drastically.
At the event, training kit for mason training under housing for all under the PMAY-G, mobile application ‘awasapp’, rural housing knowledge network were also kicked off.
Initially, the Government had announced construction of 2.95 crore houses by 2022, promising pucca houses to all in the rural areas. However, it has now decided to work on meeting targets for three years till 2019 when its tenure ends.