Application for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana starts today. Know how to apply online

Online applications for affordable homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) has begun on Thursday, with an aim to bring more people under the ambit of the Modi-government's flagship scheme.

 A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Wednesday signed between Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Ministry and Common Services Centre e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC) of the Ministry of Electronics and InformationTechnology in presence of Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Ravi Shankar Prasad.

 The purpose of the initiative is that the services of the government reach the people "without any deviation or dilutionor leakage", Naidu said, adding that the direct online application submission will enable the concerned authoritiesto take note and attend faster to the beneficiaries' request.

 He also  said the move will "help plug the loopholes if any"and "if somebody trying to ignore the legitimate claim of thepeople, then it can be taken care of by the system". Naidu said that while 13.70 lakh urban poor were sanctioned affordable houses during 2005-14, about 11 lakh houses have been already sanctioned for urban poor during thelast one year and this will pick up further momentum throughonline applications. Prasad said that CSCs are the front end soldiers of Digital India Mission and are engaged in empowering differentsections of the society through skilling and online deliveryof services. The MoU was signed by Amrit Abhijat, Joint Secretary,Ministry of HUPA and Dinesh Tyagi, CEO, CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd.

How to apply online

The service will be available from today through about 60,000 CSCs located in urban areas at Rs 25 per application. The beneficiaries will have to visit the nearest CSC fro seeking assistance to take benefits of PMAY.