Though the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) was extremely tardy in starting the survey for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) Urban scheme, 36,794 people applied for the same last year.
A source in the PMAY state mission said, “After the applicants applied and the verification was completed in March 2018, it is known that there are 36,794 beneficiaries for the PMAY scheme.”
In Guwahati, the PMAY scheme is implemented under the supervision of the GMC.
PMAY (Urban) is a mission with the aim of providing housing for all. It was flagged off on 21st June 2015 by the central government. The primary objective of the mission is to provide RCC houses to the economically weaker section (EWS) residing in urban areas.
The survey conducted by the PMAY mission revealed that among the four verticals under the PMAY scheme, 1,467 applicants had applied under the In-situ slum redevelopment (ISSR) scheme. 1,068 applicants applied under credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS). 26,981 applicants applied under affordable housing in partnership (AHP). 1,380 applicants having myadi patta land applied for beneficiary led construction (BLC) and 3,548 persons having eksoniya plots of land applied for the same scheme.
Under ISSR, identifying the slum dweller is the responsibility of the state government and accordingly the urban local bodies (ULBs) identify the dwellers. A 30 square metre RCC house with all required amenities like bathroom and kitchen are made for the applicant. A family consisting of husband, wife and unmarried children with an income of Rs 25,000 per month is eligible to apply. A private party is expected to develop the area and provide shelter to the identified slum dwellers. The rest of the area will be again developed as commercial space such as malls, etc.
Sources revealed that there are around 31 slums in Guwahati and according to the survey 1,467 people applied for a house under PMAY.
There are many families from other districts working in Guwahati who do not have any plot of land of their own. And so, they do not have houses of their own and live in rented houses. Under affordable housing in partnership (AHP), they are also entitled for a 30 square metre house if any such family is earning less than Rs 25,000 per month. 26,981 applicants applied for a house in Guwahati under the scheme.
Under CLSS 1,068 people applied. Families in this scheme can avail huge subsidy from banks to build or buy houses. Under this scheme EWS people having family income less than Rs 25,000 per month can get up to Rs 6 lakhs as loan from any bank with an interest subsidy of 6.5%. The loan has to be repaid within 20 years.
People who earn between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000, considered as lower income group (LIG) are entitled for a 60 square metre house and under this scheme can avail loan up to Rs 6 lakhs in the similar 6.5% interest subsidy. The contention here is that this section of people will go for a flat which is around 60 square metres or more. But they will get the subsidy on only Rs 6 lakhs because that is the money required to make a 30 square metre house which the EWS are entitled to. So whatever loan they take they will get an interest subsidy only on Rs 6 lakhs.
Under BLC and BLE schemes 4,928 and 2,350 persons applied for the scheme. Only economically weaker sections (EWS) families are entitled for this vertical and according to a PMAY project source, if a family has a plot of land under the urban local body area, but there is a financial scarcity to construct a house, it can get Rs 2 lakhs in their account (Rs 1.5 lakhs from the Centre and Rs 50,000 from the state government) to construct a house. There is a condition that only myadi patta land owners could avail the scheme. There are more applicants from eksonia land owners under the scheme.
The disappointment: Housing for all an impossible dream in Guwahati
The centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) Urban dream looks like impossible in Guwahati with most of the applicants being doubtful to qualify for the benefits on the one hand and with scarcity of appropriate land on the other.
A source in PMAY project said, “Not even 15% of the applicants will get the houses now as lack of government identified land for development and myadi patta land scarcity are the major issues.”
According to the source for projects like affordable housing in partnership (AHP), government has to come up with building projects on government lands but the state government has failed to identify such lands in the city so far.
After the survey, 26,981 beneficiaries should get such houses but that can happen only if lands are allotted for such projects. Also people who have plots of land and do not have money can avail the scheme. But the subsidy can be provided only to the land owners who have myadi patta land.
Similarly, the slums in the city have to be developed. 1,467 slum dwellers applied for houses from around 45 slums. Some slums are sitting on lands belonging to the railways, state government bodies like ASTC, revenue, ASEB, police, universities, ATDC and so on. To develop the slums and provide housing to all, area-wise departmental clearance is required. The source said, “None of the departments are giving the clearance and therefore the slums are not getting developed.”
According to the survey conducted by PMAY officials, most of the applicants are people who have eksonia lands.
Unless the scheme is reformed, housing for all in Guwahati remains a dream and PMAY looks like a gimmick.
