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MP: ‘Housing for all’ scheme soon for co-op societies
The housing department of Madhya Pradesh will soon introduce ‘housing for all’ scheme exclusively for the state cooperative housing societies.
The housing department of Madhya Pradesh will soon introduce ‘housing for all’ scheme exclusively for the state cooperative housing societies.
The scheme is an expansion of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) – which envisages housing for all in India by 2022 -- said minister of state for cooperative Vishwas Sarang.
According to Sarang, this is the first time in India that houses will be given on the land of the housing cooperative society.
“Providing land under the PMAY had become a problem. For the economically weaker sections, we are ready to provide houses in the housing cooperative societies. MP would be the first state to incorporate this mega scheme, which is a dream project of both PM Modi and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan,” said Sarang.
There are 6,000 cooperative housing societies in MP and more than 600 in Bhopal.
A survey of land has been started to find out how many people can be given houses.
The houses would be given between 2015 and 2022. There is no limit for the loan amount and people belonging to the weaker sections and low income groups looking for house loans would be eligible for an interest subsidy at the rate of 6.5%.
Activists have questioned the decision and are asking why the housing department was not thinking about giving houses to gas victims if they had the land.
Under PMAY, at least 9,000 houses are expected to be constructed by 2022 in Bhopal. Of this, 5,053 are labeled as EWS houses and 150 of these will be for gas victims, said a senior official from the Bhopal Municipal Corporation.
“Why is the government always focused on schemes and not ground-level realities? Rs 104 crore was sanctioned for rehabilitation of gas victims but no one has a clue where the money went. Even after so many years, both the Centre and the state could not get a concrete plan for rehabilitation. Today when they have the land, why are gas victims not being given the space under the cooperative housing societies?” said Abdul Jabbar, a social activist.
