Government Sanctions More Than 1.52 Million Houses Against the Mission Goal of Construction of 15 Lakh Houses

The Minister for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja has said that her Ministry is trying to address the issues of the urban poor, especially slum-dwellers in a comprehensive way by addressing the issues of policy, planning and programmes. Speaking at a function to give Awards for Innovations for the Urban Poor here today she said, the Government has announced Rajiv Awas Yojana with the vision of Slum-free India and the resolve to significantly improve the living conditions of the slum-dwellers. Recently, she said, the Ministry has launched the scheme of Slum-free City Planning for Rajiv Awas Yojana. This scheme is focused on Slum Survey, Development of Slum, MIS, GIS Mapping of Slums, integration of Slum MIS and GIS and preparation of Slum-free City Plans.Referring to the progress of BSUP and IHSDP components of JNNURM till March 31st this year, Kumari Selja said, the Government has sanctioned more than 1.52 million houses against the mission goal of construction of 15 lakh houses. 1422 projects of housing and basic amenities to the urban poor with an outlay of more than Rs 36,073 crores have been approved. Additional Central Assistance (Grant) of Rs. 19,920 crores are so far committed indicating more than 85% of the Mission period allocation. Cumulative release of Additional Central Assistance by the end of the financial year 2009-2010 is Rs.8,450 crores. About 2.33 lakh houses have been completed and 4.98 lakh houses are in progress as against the mid-term target of 5 lakhs units for completion or in progress. She said, while the progress of JNNURM so far is satisfactory, it is observed that there are tremendous discrepancies between States and cities. A key issue hindering the implementation of JNNURM in some States is acute capacity constraint. She said, while the challenges of urbanization are enormous, the constraint of capacity is leading to the failure of city authorities to effectively provide basic infrastructure and services to their rapidly growing urban population, especially the Aam Aadmi. Bulk of these services are lifeline services and include basic needs such as safe drinking water, sanitation, solid waste management, affordable shelter and public transportation. The Minister said, there is a dire need to address the lack of institutional and managerial capacities at city level and issues such as precarious municipal finances. There is also an issue of mindset; widespread apathy in civic officials results in deficiency in services to the urban poor. Thus, the problems of service delivery to the Aam Aadmi in urban areas have to be tackled in conjunction with reforms in municipal finances, institutional and HR capacity building and change management. Effective management of urbanization is a critical need of the hour. Kumari Selja said, urbanisation accompanies economic development. Cities in India contribute as high as 60% of the GDP. The benefits of urbanization need to be tapped to promote urban development and justice to the Aam Aadmi. In this regard, there is need to discover best practices and initiatives and promote them for wider replication. She said, on the part of her Ministry, they will strengthen their system of giving awards by Prime Minister for best-performance in the implementation of JNNURM.
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