The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or the PMAY is a Government undertaking which promises affordable housing for all the urban poor. It has targeted to build 20 million homes by March 31st 2022 and already a number of states have been brought under this scheme. The construction has already started in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala and Gujarat among others and a number of residents from these states, among others, have applied for the scheme.
There are two predominant parts to this scheme- the PMAY- U, which is mostly meant for the urban poor. Then there is the PMAY- R Gramin, which includes the building of pucca houses for the rural poor. The schemes have in turn been further linked to other related schemes like every house has a Souchalaya or toilet, the Saubhagya Yojana electricity connection- that promises to build electricity to every household, the Ujjwala Yojana- which promises a LPG gas connection in every household, access to clean drinking water to every house, along with Jan Dhan banking facilities. The combined effect of these schemes would mean that the rural population would see a great upliftment in the standard of living.
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It has been seen that as of now, 39, 25, 240 houses in the urban area have been approved. The other housing projects to be included with the scheme are the subsumed RAY scheme. It is estimated that 5 million rural houses would be constructed by March 2018 and 10 million rural houses would be constructed in March 2019 and this would help mitigate the housing problem to a large extent as the home loan interest rates would come down. Those who wish to apply for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in 2018 for a house of their own, should know about a few things about PMAY:
- The period for which this subsidy can be availed is 20 years
- Under this scheme, the government provides an interest subsidy of 6.5% on home loans that are availed by the beneficiaries.
- All the houses under the scheme would be constructed with the help of an eco- friendly technology.
- The scheme would be availed as a Credit-Linked Subsidy Scheme or CLSS from the beginning of the loan tenure.
- Special attention would be given to the needs of the specially abled and older people while allotting housing units on the ground floor.
Those who are planning to apply for the scheme have to meet the PMAY eligibility criteria to avail the benefits. They are as follows:
- The annual income has to be between Rs 3,00,001 to Rs 6,00,000 for the MIG since February 2017.
- The age of the beneficiary cannot be above 70 years
- The beneficiary has to belong to an economically weaker section with income less than Rs 3 lakhs to qualify for the LIG housing
- It is mandatory for the beneficiary and all the other adult family members to possess their Aadhar card.
- The houses constructed and allotted under this scheme would only be held by females or jointly with males
- One can also approach private contributors like IIFL Home Loans that is trying to help the beneficiaries avail the Credit linked Subsidy.
- The beneficiary should not have a residential unit in his or her name, or in the name of any immediate family member in any part of India.
- The beneficiary should not have availed any kind of central or state assistance related to any kind of housing scheme in the past.
- The location of the property should also fall under all statutory town as per 2011 census and their adjacent planning area which is also updated from time to time.
It goes without saying that a number of people have already benefited hugely from the Housing for All scheme and there is a long waiting list as well.
