THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Coming to the aid of homeless in the city, the city corporation has decided to divert an amount of Rs 9 crore from LIFE Mission to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Housing Scheme (PMAY) which envisages affordable housing to the urban poor.
Under this scheme, around 8,000 beneficiaries, having their own land, will get an amount of Rs 4 lakh for constructing their own home.
The decision to divert the fund was taken during the council meet by Mayor V K Prasanth held last Friday. “An amount of Rs 13.8 crore was sanctioned for LIFE Scheme during this financial year. But, due to some issues in getting the land, the project may get delayed. Due to the flood situation, the government is unable to support the corporation at present. So, the corporation has decided to use Rs 9 crore from the LIFE Mission for the PMAY project as the corporation has around Rs 24 crore pending to pay beneficiaries who applied for the same,” said Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar.
The scheme
The first phase of PMAY has included 7,878 beneficiaries in the city and it aims at ensuring homes for the beneficiaries by 2022.
Previously, the government has sanctioned an amount of Rs 3 lakh, including Rs 1.5 lakh from central government.Earlier, the beneficiary had to pay Rs 50,000.
Last year, the amount was revised from Rs 3 to Rs 4 lakh of which the corporation is paying Rs 2 lakh. No amount will be taken from the beneficiaries. “The amount that has been deposited by the beneficiaries before the revised scheme will be refunded once the construction of house is completed,” said Priya Biju, Manikavilakam councillor.
To track the progress of construction of houses, the government has provided a provision called geo-tagging driven by the surveyors assigned by the corporation. They collect and upload data in Bhuvan-PMAY mobile app. The amount to the beneficiary is given through four different phases.
Nearly 150 houses has been fully completed and the beneficiaries have started residing. They have received the complete amount from the corporation. A total of 448 beneficiaries after completion of their houses are awaiting to get the TC number after which they will be sanctioned the fourth phase amount. There are few beneficiaries whose permits are pending due to NOC issues.
“My housework was completed within eight months and I have received the whole amount from the corporation. The only delay I had to face was in getting the third phase amount due to the change in the project amount from Rs 3 to 4 lakh,” said Saffera A, s a beneficiary of PMAY.