PANJIM: Amidst opposition, the State government notified One Time House Building Advance Settlement Scheme, over seven months after it discontinued the housing loan scheme for its employees. The OTS scheme will remain in force till February 2021.
“The scheme aims to provide assistance to the erstwhile HBA scheme beneficiaries of the State government as well as Grant-in-Aid institutions. The Government withdrew the HBA scheme allowing the beneficiaries to shift their existing loans to other financial institutions, banks,” reads the notification released on Thursday.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
The HBA was formulated in such a manner that as per the government procedure, the loan would be recovered with full repayment of the principal amount in the beginning followed by repayment of interest component.
Since certain beneficiaries who repaid the entire principal amount had to bear sudden escalation in the balance interest amount to be paid to bank due to discontinuation of HBA scheme, the government formulated the OTS scheme.
The Opposition parties have time and again raised their voice against the scrapping of the scheme — that existed since 1988 — despite which Dr Pramod Sawant-government decided to go-ahead with its decision.
As per a government circular released earlier this week, all the erstwhile HBA beneficiaries who had their loan accounts operative with Bank of India or HDFC Bank as on May 15, 2020, are eligible under the OTS scheme.
The financial assistance from the government will be limited only to the difference amount between the outstanding loan balance along with interest as per the records maintained by the Directorate of Accounts and the banks as on May 15, 2020, that is the date of withdrawal of HBA scheme.
