Mumbai: The state housing department has appealed to the general public to not fall for advertisements by several private developers claiming to be selling homes under the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and promising a subsidy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project. A state housing department said that there are still a few developers who are claiming to sell homes under PMAY but “we have till date not approved any private project”.
The state housing department has claimed that it has instead sought a clarification from the central government on the issue of executing public private partnership (PPP) projects under PMAY where dealing with private developers is involved.
“There have been various advertisements by a few developers who are claiming to be selling homes under PMAY. Any buyer should not entertain such offers and get in touch with Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) to verify the authenticity of such claims,” said a housing department official.
PMAY is mooted to meet the target of ‘Housing For All By 2022’. This benefit is aimed at first-time homebuyers and the subsidy will be granted to those who fall under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category and whose family income does not exceed Rs 25,000 per month.
However, despite several developers putting out advertisements claiming to sell homes under PMAY, the state government has failed to take any action on the same. “Mhada or housing department are not competent authority to take action against anyone on the same. We have sought clarification on the same from the Central government on the same,” the housing department official said.
Recently, Mhada, which is the nodal agency of PMAY in the state, also suspended online application forms of PMAY because several groups of people, in the name of the housing authority, were charging money to make application forms of PMAY available.
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 mooted subsidy to individuals for constructing their own houses where such individuals can avail monetary assistance up to Rs 1.5 lakh.
