Andhra launches new scheme to waive housing loans of poor

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday launched a new scheme for poor people aimed at waiving off all loans and their interest on the government-sanctioned houses and providing them full rights over their properties with the payment of a nominal amount.

Launching the scheme, called Jagananna Sampoorna Gruha Hakku Pathakam (Jagan’s total housing rights scheme), at a function at Tanuku in West Godavari district, the chief minister said the scheme would benefit over 5.2 million families who would get registered title deeds on payment of a nominal amount under a one-time-settlement (OTS) plan.

Addressing the gathering, Jagan said with the beneficiaries being given full rights with registration documents, they could pass on the assets to the next generations, avail of bank loans and also sell their property at a market rate without any hassles.

“The government is waiving off the ₹10,000 crore outstanding housing loans of the beneficiaries who availed of loans from the AP Housing Board Corporation since 2011 and beneficiaries will be given house documents with clear titles with free registration benefitting 52 lakh people,” he said.

Reacting to the criticism from the opposition parties that the scheme was aimed at collecting money from the beneficiaries in the form of OTS, the chief minister said in the last 30 months, his government had credited ₹1.16 lakh crore to people through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) without the interference of middlemen under welfare initiatives.

“Why would I take money from the poor in the name of OTS, when over ₹1.16 lakh crore has been provided through various schemes?” he asked.

As part of the scheme, the chief minister distributed registered documents to 826,000 people who have enrolled for the OTS. “Similarly, people who have constructed houses in the government-allotted lands with their own money and don’t have full rights can avail of registration by paying just ₹10 and secure their property. For free registrations alone the government has been spending ₹6,000 crore,” he said.

Jagan said the entire value of the assets would be around ₹1,58,000 crore, and the beneficiaries can avail of the scheme by paying nominal amounts of ₹10,000 in villages, ₹15,000 in municipalities, and ₹20,000 in municipal corporations.

“In case the loan amount is less than the stipulated amounts, the beneficiaries can then pay the outstanding loan amount and get complete rights on their property,” he said, adding that the scheme is extended up to Ugadi festival falling on April 2.

He said after the registration, the property would be removed from the prohibited lands under Section 22 (A) and the beneficiary can carry out any legal transaction without any hassles.

“Also to ease the registration process, beneficiaries can register their property at the village and ward secretariats without any additional cost. With this document registration, the beneficiary doesn’t require any link documents to carry out any transactions related to the property,” Jagan said.