Corporation awaits green signal from govt to give BPL housing loans
Kochi: The Kochi Corporation had requested the state government for an exemption to provide individual housing loans to families belonging to below poverty line (BPL) under the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) scheme. But the government failed to take up the request following which apprehensions have been raised about the successful implementation of the scheme.
According to the guidelines given under the RAY scheme, the Central Government should fund the development of slums by constructing housing units as clusters. However, the key challenge faced by the Kochi Corporation is to find land for setting up slums. And moreover, people in Kerala prefer individual housing units, explained a corporation official.
The main reason for the success of the housing projects in Kochi, under the Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme, is that it provides financial support for individual housing units.
He said that, a financial aid of Rs 1,05,000 would be provided to homeless families under the BSUP scheme which would sum up to Rs 1,20,000 after adding other incentives. He added that they can also avail a bank loan of Rs 1,00,000 at four percent interest rate.
Till now, the Kochi Corporation was able to provide aid to nearly 6,000 families under the BSUP scheme. According to the official, if the civic body was given an exemption to provide individual housing scheme under RAY, then it would be able to provide nearly 10,000 houses to the homeless in the city.
The guidelines under the actual scheme states that, the Centre will bear 50 percent of the total cost for slum development. Around Rs 3,00,000 has been spent on each units provided individually under RAY. He said that this will be a considerable amount, if RAY funds had to be diverted for individual units.
When the civic authority had approached UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi seeking to consider their demand, she had asked them to move an official representation in this regard.
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Basic Services for Urban Poor, Below Poverty Line, BPL families, BSUP scheme, development of slums, Housing loans, housing projects in Kochi, Housing units, individual housing scheme, Kochi, Kochi civic authority, Kochi Corporation, Rajiv Awas Yojana, RAY scheme
