Women, SC/ST, EWS to be main beneficiaries of housing scheme

Women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and economically weaker section will be the main beneficiaries of the NDA government's Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), which would be launched on June 25.
The 'Housing for All by 2022' renamed as PMAY aims construction of about 2 crore houses across the country over the next seven years.
The focus of the flagship programme is to facilitate women including widows, low income group, SC/ST communities and transgenders, among others, to avail the affordable scheme, a senior official of the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry said.
The 'housing for all' initiative will be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the launch of 'Smart City' and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) projects.

It will be mandatory for the beneficiaries to include wife or mother's name while registering under the affordable housing
scheme, he said.

Differently-abled persons and older persons will also get preferences in allotment of ground floor houses under the PMAY.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had earlier cleared the 'Housing For All' proposal.
The urban housing component of the mission aims to create 2 crore houses by 2022 with a central grant of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.30 lakh per house.
The central grant for the urban housing scheme is estimated to be about Rs 3 lakh cr.

Modi will address mayors, municipal commissioners and other executive heads of 500 corporations and municipalities across India at the launch event.
The mega launch will also witness unveiling of certain new technologies to be used in the affordable housing scheme.
Government has earmarked Rs 50,000 for launching 500 mission cities under the AMRUT scheme and Rs 48,000 cr for 100 Smart Cities over the next five years.
Modi will issue implementation guidelines for all the three mega projects aiming to herald a new urban era in the country.
Under AMRUT, there will be focus on construction and repairing of storm water drains to ease out water logging in cities and towns.

According to Urban Development Ministry official, the special emphasis will be on strengthening the drainage system in 500 cities under the scheme.