Maharashtra- Maha Awas Yojana Launched

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, has launched a new rural housing project called “Maha Awas Yojana”. Under the project, 8.82 lakh rural houses will be built with in 100 days.

Highlights

• The project will be undertaken by the Maharashtra’s Rural Development department.
• The housing project also include toilets and other necessary amenities.

Maha Awas Yojana

The Maha Awas Yojana has been launched at an estimated cost of around ?4,000 crore. The government has set a target of constructing a total of 8,82,135 houses by February end.

Is there any such scheme by Central government

The central government had recently announced Affordable housing Scheme. The scheme was launched under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for the migrant workers who were affected by COVID-19.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

It is an initiative by Government of India under which affordable housing is to be provided to the urban poor. The government has set a target of building 20 million affordable houses by 31 March 2022 under the scheme. The scheme has two component:

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) (PMAY-U) – It has been launched for providing affordable houses for the urban poor and
• Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin)(PMAY-G)- It has been launched for for the rural poor.

This scheme has also been converged with other schemes. For instance,

• With the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, it ensures that houses have a toilet,
• Under Saubhagya Yojana, it provides electricity connection,
• Under the Ujjwala Yojana, it provided LPG gas connection. 

Features of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana

Under the scheme, the government provides an interest subsidy of 6.5% for a period of 20 years under credit link subsidy scheme (CLSS) from the date the loan starts. For the allocation of ground floor, preference is given to differently abled and older persons. The houses under the scheme are eco-friendly.