Haryana urges bankers to fund its housing scheme

The state intends to construct 2.5 lakh houses in the current fiscal under the two schemes

Terming it as a win-win situation for banks, Haryana has urged the bankers to provide finance to beneficiaries of its flagship housing scheme for poor families living in rural and urban areas. Under these two schemes the state intends to construct 2.5 lakh houses in the current financial year.

Addressing the bankers, during the state-level bankers committee meet, Ram Niwas, principal secretary, development and panchayats, Haryana said, “We have launched a new scheme, each for rural and urban areas for the below poverty line and economically weaker sections  of the society. Under the scheme for the rural areas, called ‘Priyadarshini Awaas Yojna’, poor families have been granted 100 square-yard land by the government at subsidised rates. We intend to construct one lakh houses during the current fiscal year under our flagship housing scheme meant for rural people.”

We have already identified one lakh beneficiaries under the scheme. Further, we have released the first installment of Rs 25,000 to eligible 70,000 beneficiaries. Also, the government has released the second installment of the money to around 10,000 beneficiaries.”

Under the scheme, the government will give over Rs 1 lakh to each beneficiary under different schemes to construct the house on the land allotted by the government at subsidised rates. Further, the district rural development agencies will coordinate with the beneficiaries to provide further loan to them from nationalised or regional rural banks for completion or extension of the dwelling unit.

He added, “Bankers informed me that bank accounts of 17,000 beneficiaries have been opened. So there is a great opportunity for the bankers to cash in on this sector, both in rural and urban areas. The loan is secured as the bankers can mortgage the land. The land has high value as it has been provided to beneficiaries at a subsidised rate.”

“Similarly, we have formulated a separate policy for urban areas for about 1.5 lakh beneficiaries,” he added. He further informed that in urban areas, the government intends to construct 1.5 lakh dwellings for the poor.

“Out of the total, 50,000 houses would be constructed by the housing board. Tenders have already been allocated for construction of 32,000 houses with one dwelling costing around Rs 4.5 lakh. Most of the flats would be in the NCR region and since the housing board is in the loop,the banks do not need to worry about recovery. Our past experiences show that the recovery is 99 per cent. Moreover, the bank loan amount can be guaranteed by credit guarantee fund, besides that the bank can take interest subvention under the Union government scheme. So the scheme provides window of opportunity for the banks which they must cash in.”

It is worth mentioning that there are policies of the state government under which 20 per cent of the total plot developed by private developers were transferred to the housing board at a subsidised rate. Out of the total cost, 50 per cent would be borne by the beneficiary, while the rest by the bankers.