Min 9 sq mt enhancement to house must for central assistance

Minimum addition of 9 sq mt of carpet area to the existing house will be mandatory for being eligible for central assistance under a component of Prime Minister' Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme, according to the new guidelines.
The beneficiaries, already owning pucca or semi-pucca houses, are given assistance for enhancement of their dwellings to make them more livable under 'Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC)' component of the scheme.
"A minimum addition of 9 sq mt of carpet area to the existing pucca or semi-pucca house shall now be ensured for being eligible for Central assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh per beneficiary," an official release said today.

This enhancement should include pucca construction of at least one habitable room or room with kitchen/bathroom/toilet, as per the National Building Construction Norms, it said.
The new guidelines also mandated that after adding the required 9 sq mt carpet area, total carpet area should not be less than 21 sq mt and must not be more than 30 sq mt.
Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Ministry has issued these guidelines to states and UTs for compliance while sending affordable housing proposals for enhancement of existing houses under BLC component of housing mission, the release said.
Central assistance under PMAY (Urban), which envisages building 2 crore houses for urban poor by 2022, ranges from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.30 lakh under different components of the scheme.

HUPA ministry has so far approved construction of 6.84 lakh affordable houses for economically weaker sections with a total central assistance of Rs 10,050 crore.