The Tamil Nadu Governor, Mr. K.K. Shah, who was formerly Union Minister for Housing, has put the shortage of housing at over 90 million residential units for the whole country and some 6 to 7.5 million units for Tamil Nadu alone. Other estimates have put the funds required for building so many housing units at Rs. 33,000 crores for the whole country and by the same criterion, it should cost over Rs. 2,500 crores for Tamil Nadu. These are staggering figures and the raising of resources on such a colossal scale is not within the means of either the Centre or the State Governments. But rather than be frightened away by the very magnitude of the task, Governments should consider it a challenge, and at least quicken the pace of attack on the problem, even if there can be no hope of a complete answer to the growing shortage in the forseeable future. It is Mr. Shah who initiated, as Minister for Housing, the pragmatic Rs. 200-crore revolving fund plan to make housing somewhat self-financing with the help of this initial nucleus. There have been several other Central aid schemes in operation since the beginning of planning in the early fifties.
