Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the 2024 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, the State Government on Monday announced a new housing scheme ‘Mo Ghara’ for homeless rural people of the State.
On the occasion of completion of the fourth year of the fifth term of his Government, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today chaired the State Cabinet meeting, in which 18 important proposals, including the ‘Mo Ghara’ housing scheme were approved.
Briefing media persons after the meeting, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pradip Kumar Amat said Keeping the promise that conversion of the left out kutcha houses into pucca houses will be continued as a priority of the Government and the State Cabinet today approved a new housing scheme called Mo Ghara to provide financial assistance to meet the aspiration of the lower and lower middle income households of rural Odisha.
Chief Secretary Pradip Jena and Principal Secretary Panchayatiraj and Drinking Water Sushil Kumar Lohani addressed Media.
The scheme will cover all such families who were left out in the existing housing schemes due to stringent eligibility criteria or due to insufficient allocation and also those who had received housing assistance of smaller amounts in the past and now want to upgrade or expand their houses, he said.
Shri Amat said this is a credit linked housing scheme with capital subsidy which is fully funded from the State Budget. This scheme aims at construction/up-gradation and completion of houses.
Under the scheme, a beneficiary can avail housing loan upto Rs. 3 lakh which can be repaid in 10 years excluding 1 year moratorium period in easy installments. They can opt for one of the four slabs of the loan amount – Rs. 1 Lakh, 1.5 Lakh,2 Lakh and 3 Lakh, he pointed out.
The Cabinet has det the eligibility criteria for the scheme. If the family is staying in a kutcha house or one pucca room with RCC roof is eligible to reap the benefit of the scheme.
Similarly, the family, who has not availed any government housing assistance or has availed assistance of below Rs.70,000 in the past, below Rs 25,000 per month income, does not have a non-commercial motorized four-wheeler for personal use, not a government employee or pensioner, and having land below 5 acres irrigated land or below 15 acres non irrigated land, are eligible for the scheme, the Minister said.
For loan amounts of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 1.50 lakh, Rs 2/3 lakh, the State Government will provide subsidies of Rs 30,000, Rs 45,000, and Rs 60,000, respectively. However, the family headed by SC/ST and PwD will get a subsidy of additional Rs 10,000.
Banks will not charge any processing fee from the beneficiary for sanction of the loan, he said.
In order to further reduce the financial burden for the beneficiaries, the registration fee and stamp duties required during mortgage of title deed have been waived off by the State Government, Amat said.
The charges for getting certified copies of relevant documents from the Sub-Registrar offices as required by bank for processing of loan applications under this scheme will also be waived, he informed.
Further, he said, the legal consultation fee is also standardized to Rs. 1000 maximum, which the State Government will reimburse to the banks.
In addition to the Mo Ghara scheme, the beneficiaries can also avail support under relevant schemes of rural sanitation, drinking water, rural electrification etc. if found eligible and not availed earlier.
A dedicated web portal in the url: https://rhodisha.gov.in/moghara is being launched for filing of online application, monitoring and implementation of the scheme. The applicants will have to register in this portal before filing the applications which will be validated through OTP, he said.
The eligible people can submit their applications through this portal w.e.f June 16, 2023. The applicant will register either by her/himself and may use the services of Mo-Seva Kendra.
However, the applicant will invest a minimum of 10 percent of loan amount as margin money either in the shape of cash or kind or labor, he stated.
After due verification, loan will be released in 2/3 installments on achievement of pre-defined stage of construction.
The beneficiary, if interested, can repay the loan amount earlier than the scheduled period of 10 years. They can also opt for paying higher EMIs. No prepayment charges will be imposed by the bank for this period, he said.
The Panchayati Raj Minister also informed that approximately 4 lakh people will be covered under the new scheme for which the Government will bear Rs 2150 crore over a period of two years.