Incentives to be given for construction of affordable rental housing complexes

Puri launched a portal for the scheme and released the guidelines and guidebook. The scheme under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban has been taken up to provide dignified and affordable living spaces to varied groups of urban migrants and poor including industrial & construction workers, migrants working with market associations, educational and health institutions, hospitality sector, long term tourists or visitors and students.

“To make this a lucrative and viable business opportunity for entities, central government will provide concessional project finance under affordable housing fund & priority sector lending, exemption in Income Tax and GST and Technology Innovation Grant for promotion of innovative technologies in ARHCs. Further, State/UT Govt. will provide Use Permission changes, 50% additional FAR/FSI free of cost, Single Window Approval within 30 days, Trunk Infrastructure facility and Municipal charges at par with residential property," a statement by the ministry said.

The scheme was announced by the central government in May, received approval from the cabinet in July. This comes at a time when the extended lockdown to control the spread of covid-19 saw a large number of migrant workers head back to their villages. The scheme aims to target more than 350,000 beneficiaries.

“We already have 24 states on board. I will be writing a letter of appreciation to these states for coming on board so quickly for this scheme. The implementation of this scheme has been accelerated due to the covid-19 crisis," Puri said, while addressing a digital press conference.