V. Somanna, Housing Minister, said on Wednesday that the State government was committed to providing houses for all poor persons without houses and without sites.
He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for construction of 460 flats under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana by the Karnataka Slum Development Board and the Udupi municipality at Herga, here.
Mr. Somanna said that the State government was clearing the construction of houses which had been pending for the last five to six years. The previous State governments had only made announcements of construction but had hardly followed it with concrete action on their implementation.
The government had already given its nod for the construction of 39,000 houses for the poor across in the State.
The government had already permitted the construction of 500 houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana for Udupi district.
His department would also release the funds required for the construction of basic infrastructure facilities such as sewage treatment plant, roads and anganwadis for the flats to be built at Herga.
His department had decided that the construction of houses for the poor would be monitored by the Deputy Commissioner in urban areas, while the housing schemes for the poor in the rural areas would be monitored by CEO of zilla panchayats, he said.
His department was emphasising on transparency in this process. The beneficiaries who had got houses under the housing schemes for the poor should not sell their houses, Mr. Somanna said.
Basavaraj Bommai, Home Minister and Udupi in charge, said that both the Union and the State governments were giving priority to providing housing to the poor.
