TN seeks Rs 420 cr from NHB, HUDCO to finance 20,000 homes for economically weaker sections

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Tamil Nadu government is seeking Rs 420 crore from Housing and Urban
and Development Corporation or National Housing Bank to provide houses
to 20,000 economically weaker section families in town panchayats.



This comes after the Housing and Urban Development department in a
Government Order released recently decided to sanction financial
assistance of Rs 2.1 lakh each to 20,000 economically weaker families
in the town panchayats under Phase I to convert huts or mud houses
into green houses with a concrete roof and solar power.



It is learnt that the housing and urban development department is
planning to tap any one of the institutions which will offer lowest
rate of interest and get the loan released in instalments based upon
the demand assessment.



Sources told Express that Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB)
would repay the loan and interest charged through sale of Tranferrable
Development rights accrued due to the construction of Economic Weaker
Section (EWS) houses at periodic intervals as per the loan repayment
schedule. The loan will also be backed by a government guarantee.



Interestingly, the eligibility for the applicant under the scheme is
that he should be poor and should not own a concrete house. “The
assistance will be provided to construct a house with a plinth area of
not less than 300 square feet,” sources said.



The guidelines regarding eligibility, selection of beneficiaries and
maximum plinth area of the proposed house will be decided by a
committee consisting of Housing secretary, managing director of slum
clearance board, director town panchayats and a representative of
finance department under the chairmanship of principal secretary
municipal and water supply department.



The applications would be submitted by beneficiaries to town
panchayats along with income certificate and building plan which will
be scrutinised by executive officers of twon panchayats. After
scrutiny, the beneficiary would be selected as per criteria prescribed
by the committee. The scheme envisages stage wise completion
certificate by respective assistant executive engineers.



Interestingly, the scheme is an attractive one but it still remains
unclear as to how slum clearance board would  repay the loan amount
through proceeds from sale of TDR as it is still difficult to fix the
value of slum TDRs as they are encroachments on the government land.
Besides there are no guidelines on how to encash the TDRs from the
financial institutions since the TDR came to being. There are also
issues pertaining to registration of TDRs.



Factfile:

The houses under the scheme for each year may be sanctioned adopting
the following reservation.

Scheduled Caste  - 29%

Scheduled Tribe - 1%

Others - 70%

3% of the allocation may be reserved for differently-abled persons.



Type designs and Unit cost:

--- Minimum plinth area of each house: 300 sq.ft

Unit cost: Rs.2.10 lakhs.

-- Solar powered lighting system shall be installed by Tamil Nadu
Energy Development Agency (TEDA).

-- A living room, Bed room, kitchen and toilet besides Rain Water
Harvesting structures.

--- Type Designs proposed are flexible and the plinth area of the
house should not exceed 360 sq.ft.

--- Changes in type design are permissible without reduction in the
plinth area of 300 Sq.ft