Mhada officers may visit your home to sell PMAY

Following a poor response from people registering to buy homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) online, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) has decided to send its officers to visit localities where potential homebuyers under PMAY can be targeted, and a message to register for purchasing flats could be conveyed.

Following the Centre’s launch of ‘Housing For All by 2022,’ the Mhada, nodal agency for constructing affordable homes under PMAY, was also given a sum of Rs 90 crore for constructing houses. The Mhada had started promoting the PMAY since May.

However, the response was very low as the campaign was conducted online. “Now, we have identified several locations in the city and metropolitan regions where we will personally visit as the target audience eligible for purchasing homes under PMAY may have or may not have access to the Internet. We will inform potential homebuyers about PMAY scheme. The personal visit will also help us in identifying the requirement ratio of the population wanting to own a house,” said a Mhada official.

The locations identified for the visit include western and central suburbs of the city, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Bhiwandi, Mira Road-Bhayander, Vasai-Virar, Ulhasnagar, Badlapur and Ambernath. The housing authority has identified around 450 hectare land for construction in the metropolitan region, of which the Cabinet last week agreed to allot around 385 hectares to the Mhada at a nominal rate of Rs 1 per square metre.

The state Cabinet had also decided to grant 50 per cent concession on surveyor and development cost along with stamp duty that would be fixed at Rs 1,000 for houses meant for Economically Weaker Section (EWS). The profit-sharing ratio between the Mhada and the local body of the city will be 70:30 for constructing homes for middle income group (MIG) and higher income group (HIG) under the PMAY.

To be eligible for buying a house in the EWS under the PMAY, an individual’s monthly family income should not be more than Rs 25,000. The EWS houses constructed under the PMAY will measure around 322 square feet. Further, out of the total cost of the house, buyers will get subsidy of around Rs 2.5 lakh where the Centre will contribute Rs 1.5 lakh and state will contribute Rs 1 lakh.

The Mhada had received around 78 proposals initially for constructing homes under the PMAY from various municipal corporations and zilla parishads of the state. There are around 51 cities in the state where the PMAY will be implemented.

Further, to address the housing requirement of the masses, the Central government has set several components which includes slum redevelopment by using land as resource, credit link subsidy where home loans will be given at interest rate 6.5 per cent for 15 years. The proposed scheme for the state comes under affordable housing partnership initiated with public and private sectors to grant subsidy in monetary terms but up to Rs 2.5 lakh. Lastly, the Centre has also mooted subsidy to individuals for constructing their own houses where such individuals can avail monetary assistance up to Rs 1.5 lakh.

The PMAY has replaced the Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana (RGAY) after the BJP government came to power in 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PMAY on June 25, 2015.