Centre to construct one crore houses in rural areas under PMAY scheme

The Cabinet today approved implementation of rural housing scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana(PMAY) for construction of pucca houses to all houseless and households living in dilapidated houses.

Under the scheme, one crore houses will be built in next three years. The scheme would be implemented in rural areas throughout the country except Delhi and Chandigarh. The cost would be shared between centre and States. It is part of government's effort to provide housing for all by 2022. Under the scheme, Rs 1.2 lakh financial assistance will be given per unit in plain areas and Rs 1.3 lakh in hilly and difficult areas.

Construction of one crore proposed houses will cost Rs 81,975 crore . Identification of beneficiaries for the assistance will be done on the basis of Socio Economic and Caste Census data. Funds will be transferred directly to the account of the beneficiary. It will run parallel to the the existing Indira Awaas Yojana. No doubt, the new scheme will be a substantial augmentation of housing effort in rural areas .

The cabinet also cleared additional six percent Dearness Allowance for



serving government employees and Dearness Relief for pensioners from 1st January this year. Briefing media in New Delhi this evening, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the decision will benefit lakhs of serving employees and pensioners.

The Cabinet also gave its approval to 1 thousand 500 million dollar project of World Bank Support to Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

Cabinet also gave its nod for six venues for FIFA Under-17 World Cup to be held in India in 2017. The venue are JLN Stadium, New Delhi, D.Y. Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, JLN Stadium, Kochi, Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, JLN Stadium, Fatorda, Goa and I.G. Stadium Guwahati.

It also gave its approval for extending the tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis beyond 31st March 2016 for three years.

Cabinet also gave its approval to Revised Cost Estimate of Rs 4,021 crore for the ongoing 720 Mega Watt Mangadechhu Hydroelectric Project in Bhutan.