Addressing a State Housing Minister’s conference here on Saturday, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja said the Government would construct 16 lakh houses by spending over Rs 40,000 crore in first phase of the scheme.
Speaking at the conference Kumari Selja pointed out that RAY has been designed with a “vision of creating a Slum- Free India – an India comprising of inclusive and equitable cities, where every citizen has access to the basic civic and social services and decent shelter.”
Bringing in the comparison between the number of people staying in the urban and rural areas in India the Minister said that the urban population of India will double itself over the next two decades and around 31.16% of the total population will stay in the urban areas. She said, “Rajiv Awas Yojana has the potential to radically transform the urban landscape of India and the living conditions of the urban poor.”
To address the growing needs of urbanisation, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was launched in 2005. She added, “This mission made massive capital outlays for both city infrastructures as well as for integrated slum development and provision of basic services. Under the components of integrated slum housing and provision of basic services, my Ministry is supporting construction of about 16 lakh houses across the country at a cost of Rs 40,000 Crores and the feedback and response from the States and the experience from JNNURM have been important inputs into the design of RAY.”
In order to reduce the transaction cost and simplify the housing construction, Selja said the Government was seeking to review the land conversion and land use policies.
She urged the State Governments to encourage private sector in this scheme. The Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister also said the Centre was adopting a holistic approach in institutionalising and monitoring the scheme.