NEW DELHI: Among a slew of measures that the Narendra Modi-led government took on Friday, the most ambitious appeared to be the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) 2.0.
Under this scheme, financial assistance will be provided to one crore urban poor and middle-class families through states, UTs or Primary Lending Institutions to construct, purchase or rent a house at an affordable cost in urban areas in five years.
The government will provide financial assistance of Rs 2.30 lakh crore under the scheme.
The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Under the scheme, families belonging to Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG) or Middle Income Group (MIG) segments having no pucca house are eligible to purchase or build a house.
The PMAY-U is one of the major flagship programmes being implemented by government to provide all-weather pucca houses to all eligible beneficiaries in the urban areas. Under this, 1.18 crore houses have been sanctioned while more than 85.5 lakh houses have already been constructed and delivered.
EWS households are families with an annual income up to Rs 3 lakh, while the LIG households are families with an annual income from Rs 3-6 lakh. The criteria for the MIG has been modified as households with annual income of Rs 6-9 lakh are eligible under the category.
In addition, the corpus fund of Credit Risk Guarantee Fund Trust has been increased from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 3,000 crore to provide benefit of credit risk guarantee on affordable housing loans from banks, housing finance companies, or primary lending institutions to EWS and LIG segments.
In another decision, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved eight projects of the Ministry of Railways with a total estimated cost of Rs 24,657 crore. The projects aim at enhancing connectivity, facilitating ease of travelling, minimising logistic cost and reduce oil imports.
Briefing the media about the decisions, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the total projects of the railways approved by the cabinet will be completed by 2030-31, generating employment for about 3 crore man-days during their construction phases.
“The projects are in line with the PM’s vision of a new India, which will make people of the region self-reliant by way of a comprehensive development,” Vaishnaw said.
The eight projects will cover 14 districts across seven states — Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana and West Bengal.
The cabinet also approved Rs 1,765 crore for clean plant programme to revolutionise the horticulture sector.
Under the Clean Plant Programme, nine world-class Clean Plant Centres (CPCs), equipped with advanced diagnostic therapeutics and tissue culture labs, will be established across India. These centres will play a crucial role in producing and maintaining virus-free planting material meant for larger propagation.
The nine state-of-the-art CPCs include grapes (NRC, Pune), temperate fruits (CITH, Srinagar and Mukteshwar), citrus fruits (CCRI, Nagpur and CIAH, Bikaner), mango/guava/avacado (IIHR, Bangaluru), mango/guava/litchi (CISH, Lucknow), pomegranate (NRC, Sholapur) and tropical/sub-tropical fruits in eastern India.