Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said rules will be simplified to help the poor buy land and build houses. At a programme where he dedicated one lakh multi-story residential projects and handed over houses to beneficiaries in Yelahanka, Bengaluru, on Tuesday, Bommai said “constructing a house will become dearer and difficult” in the future.
He pointed out that the Revenue Act does not provide specific concessions to build houses and that the cost of land has increased due to demand. “Under current rules, it’s difficult for common people to buy sites,” he said. “So, the government proposes to amend existing rules to help them build houses.
The government will also make land available to beneficiaries at concessional rates. Even purchase of land for residential purposes and construction of houses will be simplified.” Bommai said the BJP government, which came to power in 2019, had set itself a target of building 10 lakh houses, of which five lakh are in the final stages of completion.
Later, in Dharwad, with an eye on the upcoming assembly polls, Bommai launched the Raitha Shakti scheme. He had announced the scheme in his budget last year. “The aim of the scheme is to encourage farmers to use agricultural machinery and to reduce the fuel burden,” Bommai said at a programme organised by the department of agriculture and University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad. Under the scheme, farmers who own up to five acres of land will be given a subsidy of Rs 25 per litre upto10 litres of diesel.
It is estimated that a farmer will need 25 litres of diesel to cultivate his/her entire farm until harvest. The government has decided to pay a subsidy of Rs 1,250 to each farmer for diesel. The subsidy will benefit an estimated 69 lakh farmers. The subsidy amount will be directly transferred into the beneficiary’s bank account.