NEW DELHI: In the next phase of PM Awas Yojna (PMAY) in urban areas, govt is looking to slash the income threshold for middle-income group beneficiaries from Rs 18 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to target it better, while also spreading the disbursement of the subsidy over five years, instead of one-shot payment, to ensure better monitoring.
Although officials are tight-lipped about the interest subsidy for MIG beneficiaries, sources said it may be around Rs 2.6 lakh as was provided in the last phase of the scheme. Financial allocation for the scheme is likely to be part of the budget to be presented on Tuesday.
In the first leg, govt had put the MIG under two categories – those having an annual income of Rs 6 lakh to Rs 12 lakh and households with annual income of Rs 12 lakh to Rs 18 lakh. Now there may only be one MIG category.
The changes are being brought to ensure only deserving borrowers get the benefit of the scheme, officials said. The detailed scheme with financial implications is likely to be placed before Cabinet soon, following a presentation that was made to PM Modi recently.
The scheme has been redesigned keeping in mind the PM’s announcement from the Red Fort last year – to give relief in bank loan interest by providing a help of “lakhs of rupees” to families living in rented houses, unauthorised colonies and shanties in cities, to build their own house, officials told TOI. They added several new provisions have been made based on the learnings from the earlier scheme, seeking to eliminate the scope to beat the system.
In its first Cabinet meeting, the govt had given a go ahead to the second phase of the scheme to provide financial assistance for three crore houses – two crore in rural and one crore in urban areas – over the next five years, but the cost to be incurred for this has to be approved.
Like the last phase, PMAY (U) 2.0 will have four – beneficiary-led construction, in-situ slum rehabilitation and credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS). Barring CLSS beneficiaries, those falling under other categories received up to Rs 1.5 lakh assistance under the scheme.
