The proposal in the Union government’s interim budget for a housing scheme for the middle class struck a chord with the common people. They saw in the proposal a ray of hope toward realisation of their life’s dream to have a house of their own.

Presenting the Interim Budget 2024- 25 on Thursday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the proposal to launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class living in rented houses, slums, or chawls, and unauthorised colonies to buy or build their own houses.

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Talking to The Statesman on the proposals, Nitin, an employee at a private firm, said the budgetary proposal seems to have been made keeping people like him in mind.

Staying in a rented accommodation, he feels is an unavoidable expense. “If there is a government scheme to help people like me to own a house, it would prove a game changer as I could use the money I spend on the rent to provide better education to my children, and spend more on my parents.”

The finance minister said in her budget speech that the government would launch the scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class living in rented houses, or slums, chawls, and unauthorised colonies.

On being asked about her opinion on the interim budget, a student on a sightseeing trip to Delhi said she was particularly happy about the government’s proposal for 40,000 normal rail bogies to be converted to Vande Bharat standards.

As a travel enthusiast, she said she loves to travel by railway. She cherishes her experience traveling in Vande Bharat for the convenience, comfort, and modern touch the train offers.

Nikhil, an accountant employed with a private firm, said he was impressed by the rooftop solarisation scheme, which as per the finance minister would enable a crore households to save money by obtaining 300 units of free electricity.

He said this would not only give a feeling that we are doing something for the environment but would also help save money on electricity as these days electricity is becoming an important energy source with EVs also becoming popular amongst the urban population.

Earlier in the day, while presenting the interim budget 2024-25 in Parliament, Nirmala Sitharaman announced a scheme to help middle-class people living in rented houses, slums or chawls, and unauthorised colonies to buy or build their own houses.

She has also highlighted the achievement of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (rural) that continued despite COVID challenges and the government is now close to achieving the target of providing three crore houses under the scheme.

Two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years to meet the requirement arising from an increase in the number of families, Sitharaman added.

According to the finance minister, with rooftop solarization, expected benefits include savings of up to Rs 15,000 to 18,000 on an annual basis for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to the companies involved in distribution.

Speaking on the railways in her interim budget speech, the finance minister announced that three major economic railway corridor programmes would be implemented, while also mentioning that forty thousand normal rail bogies would be converted to the Vande Bharat standards.