State housing scheme set to be rolled out

SHILLONG: The state government will soon launch its housing scheme with two components in all the blocks.
Housing Minister Zenith Sangma said on Thursday that while the first component of the scheme will be allotment of aluminium sheets free of cost for roofing for the economically weaker section, the other component will be construction of dwelling houses.
“In the first year, we will distribute the aluminium sheets and later, the dwelling houses will be constructed,” he added.
Christened as Chief Minister’s Housing Assistance Programme, the break-up of the second component is the construction of a dwelling unit at the cost of Rs 3.10 lakh, out of which Rs 75,000 will be given as assistance to beneficiaries and the rest will be in the form of loan.
The government has already earmarked Rs 60 crore for the construction of dwelling units.
The criterion is that beneficiaries should have their own land.
The state government is procuring the roofing sheets from Belco, the primary producer of aluminium, to ensure quality.
The used aluminium sheets can be returned to the company for recycling and 60 per cent of the cost will be reimbursed, he said.
The minister said the committees are being formed at block levels to select the beneficiaries who are economically weaker.
“We are not looking at BPL families but economically backward sections who are not included in the BPL list for the implementation of the scheme,” Sangma said.
The Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY) targets BPL families and this is also availed of by the State.
Sangma said the MLAs cannot recommend the names of the beneficiaries as the list will be processed by block level committees though there is demand from MLAs to accept their recommendations.