West Bengal jute mill workers to get new flats for Rs 50,000 under PMAY 2.0
Workers living in old, dilapidated quarters will get a new flat for Rs 50,000 of a Rs 5.50 lakh cost, with a pilot in North 24 Parganas and Hooghly.
Jute mill workers in West Bengal who have lived for years in old and dilapidated quarters will now get a new, permanent flat for just Rs 50,000. State Transport and Labour Minister Arjun Singh has announced the housing scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana 2.0 (PMAY 2.0). The Centre and the state government will run the scheme jointly.
According to information from the administration, building one flat will cost Rs 5.50 lakh in all. The worker will pay only Rs 50,000 of this. The rest will come from several sources: the Centre will give a grant of Rs 1.50 lakh, the state government Rs 2.79 lakh, and the Labour Department's share will be Rs 71,000.
Each flat will have a carpet area of 320 to 450 square feet, with two rooms, one kitchen and one toilet or bathroom. The buildings will be G+3, or four storeys, with four flats on each floor, making 16 flats in a building. Families with an elderly or disabled member will get priority for ground-floor flats.
The scheme sets certain conditions. The applicant must belong to the economically weaker section, and the family's annual income must not exceed Rs 3 lakh. Neither the applicant nor any family member should own a permanent house anywhere. The applicant must not have benefited from any Centre or state housing scheme in the past 20 years. A flat allotted under the scheme cannot be sold for the next five years.
The scheme is being started as a pilot project in the districts of North 24 Parganas and Hooghly. In North 24 Parganas, the municipalities of Bhatpara, Titagarh and Kamarhati have been asked to identify and select land.
Eligible workers will be selected in coordination with representatives of the district administration, the municipal corporation, the Labour Department, jute mill managements and trade unions. More than 4,000 workers have applied so far. A list of eligible beneficiaries will be released after the applications are scrutinised. Applications will later also be accepted on an online web portal.
