New Delhi/UNI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday proposed to launch a scheme for 'deserving' sections of the middle class to help them buy or build their own houses.

"Our government will launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class living in rented houses, slums, chawls, and unauthorized colonies" buy or build their own houses," Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha while presenting the interim budget for 2024–25.

Highlighting the achievement of PM Awas Yojana (Grameen), Sitharaman said that despite the challenges due to Covid, implementation of the scheme continued, and the government is close to achieving the target of three crore houses.

She said that two crore more houses will be built in the next five years to meet the requirements arising from the increase in the number of families.

The Minister emphasised that the government is working with an approach to development that is all-round, all-pervasive, and all-inclusive to make India a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.