J&K Housing Board, J&K Bank organize Webinar on Awas Par Samvaad

JAMMU : A webinar on the topic ‘Awas Par Samvaad’ – ‘Financial Inclusion’ was organized by J&K Bank in collaboration with J&K Housing Board under Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana (Urban) of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

Mohammad Shahid Saleem Dar, Managing Director, J&K Housing Board; Asgar Hussain Khan, Director Urban Local Bodies, Jammu; Aftab Ahmed Shalla, Incharge Govt Subsidy and Guarantee Dept; Corporate Headquarter J&K Bank, Dr. Manoj Bhatt; Sr. Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Jammu University, Suhail Ahmad Lone; Incharge Policy Planning Corporate Headquarter J&K Bank were key speakers.

The main topics for discussion were – Role of Banks, Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) and Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) in facilitating access to finance for urban poor in all verticals of PMAY(U),Creating conducive housing eco-system to facilitate stakeholder participation such as builders-bankers-beneficiaries (BBB) at city level, Mainstreaming Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) into the formal banking sector, Contribution of CLSS in reaching out to all sections of society for achieving the goal of Housing for All.

Speaking on the occasion, Mohammad Shahid Saleem Dar, Managing Director, J&K Housing Board advocated the importance of Banks/Financial Institutions, Housing Finance Companies and Micro Finance Institutions in facilitating access to finances for urban poor in the three verticals of PMAY(U) under implementation in the U.T. of J&K. He further elaborated that the Financial Institutions while playing a key role in emancipating urban poor through financial interventions, the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme of PMAY(U) is a direct intervention for providing shelter to urban poor. Not only this, the Financial Institutions are duty bound to lend economic support for construction of houses under BLC and AHP Component of the Scheme as well. It was further intimated that the U.T. Government has taken a leap ahead and issued policy guidelines for granting Rs.2.00 lacs interest free loan to PMAY(U) beneficiaries by the J&K Bank Ltd; for a period of 10 years, which in itself is a much needed and most appropriate financial intervention to address the problem of affordable shelter to urban poor.

Addressing the participants, Asgar Hussain Khan said that financial inclusion has moved up the global reform agenda and gained great interest for its potential to break the vicious cycle of poverty and lower income inequality.

While interacting with the participants during the webinar, representatives from J&K Bank said that financial inclusion chiefly focuses on providing reliable financial solutions to the economically underprivileged sections of the society without having any unfair treatment. They said J&K Banks offers banking, financial solutions and services to every individual in the society by giving them basic financial services. J&K Bank has been playing the role of propagator and facilitator by providing a conducive policy environment besides extending financial support to the needy and poor people to improve their lifestyle by giving them opportunity to get housing loans under PMAY, they further added.

Videos of success stories of PMAY-U beneficiaries were also displayed on the occasion.

Among others, senior officers of J&K Housing Board, J&K Bank, SLTCs/CLTCs experts, students, PMAY (U) beneficiaries also attended the webinar.