The beneficiaries of PMAY (Urban)-LIFE housing project are now eligible for benefits under the project even if they are constructing a house on land located outside the respective urban local body limit, as per recently revised guidelines.
Earlier, it was stipulated that the beneficiaries should purchase land within the respective local body limit considering the difficulty in geotagging the house at various stages of construction.
As per the revised order, the urban local bodies have to take up a separate project, with the approval of the district planning committee, for the beneficiaries who own land in areas coming under other local bodies. Those who have not yet been included in the urban body’s Detailed Project Report (DPR) can also be included in this.
In preparing such projects, the beneficiaries from the general, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories can be allocated ₹4 lakh for the construction of the house. However, for Scheduled Tribe beneficiaries who own land in tribal areas, an amount of ₹6 lakh can be allocated. Out of the ₹4 lakh for houses, the urban local body’s share will be ₹3 lakh, while the State government will pitch in with ₹1 lakh. The urban bodies can use their development funds or own funds for this purpose. In case of paucity of funds, they can avail themselves of a loan of ₹2 lakh per beneficiary from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), just like in the case of the usual PMAY(Urban)-LIFE houses.
The Secretary of the urban local body, which is providing the funds for the house construction, has to make arrangements to ensure that the geo tagging of the house is done at each stage of the construction. The Secretary also has to ensure that 90 days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is provided to the beneficiary, as stipulated under the LIFE project norms.
