'Waive off interest on Bhagya Mandira loans'

Bhagya Mandira scheme was started by the Government in 1980 with the aim of providing monetary assistance for selected beneficiaries for construction and repair of house.
Accordingly, 100 beneficiaries had availed loan for construction of house while 61 had availed loan for repair.  Under the scheme, each beneficiary was provided Rs 4,000 for construction of house of which Rs 2,500 was the loan amount while Rs 1,500 was subsidy.

Accordingly, assistance of Rs 2,500 was given for repair of house of which Rs 1,500 was the loan amount and Rs 1,000 was subsidy. The beneficiaries had to repay the loan over 20 years.  Since the Government did not issue any guidelines with regard to repaying of the loan, the interest over the loan at present had multiplied by many folds.

The beneficiaries, who are economically backward are now finding it difficult to repay.
Since the loan has not been repaid, the beneficiaries cannot change the Khata of the house, neither sell it nor pledge the house and get loan.

The beneficiaries say that Government had come forth to waive off the interest for Ashraya beneficiaries but it did not spare a thought on waiving off the interest on this scheme which was implemented much before Ashraya. They demand the Government to take notice of the issue and make necessary arrangements to waive off the interest on the loan amount.