The Centre on Friday said it was in the process of finalising a scheme providing relief in interest rates on loans from banks to construct houses in urban areas. The programme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address.
“We are in the process of finalising details of the new home loans scheme. Let the Cabinet approve it,” Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said during a media interaction here.
The scheme aims to help urban poor build houses in cities. They will be provided with relief in interest rates and loans taken from banks to construct homes.
The prime minister had said that if this section wants to build their own houses the government will assist them with a relief in interest rates and loans from banks that will help them save lakhs of rupees.
The government already has a scheme to address housing shortage for urban poor called the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) which was launched in 2015.
The PMAY-U is a flagship Mission of the Government implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
A total of 75.51 lakh houses have been built of which 71.39 lakh have been occupied under the PMAY-U, the government informed the Rajya Sabha.
Mr Puri also said that more than 6.4 lakh sites have been adopted across the country as part of a nationwide cleanliness drive which would be held on October 1.
The drive aims to clean garbage at vulnerable points, railway tracks and stations, airports and surrounding areas, water bodies, ghats, slums, market spaces, places of worship and tourist spots among others.
In the latest episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the prime minister asked people to dedicate an hour for cleanliness at 10 am on October 1 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the eve of his birth anniversary.
