Reviewing the Union government’s ambitious “Housing for All by 2022” programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the Union Housing and Poverty Alleviation Ministry on Wednesday to recast the flagship scheme, under which two crore houses are to be built for slum dwellers and other weaker sections.
Chairing a third review meeting here, the Prime Minister asked for priority to be given to areas along the Ganga, so that the river rejuvenation programme could be dovetailed with the housing plan.
The Prime Minister is learnt to have directed all departments concerned to finalise immediately the programme and the financing models for alternative sets of housing requirements. He stressed that quality of the houses should not be compromised.
Safety concerns of specific areas, such as coastal zones, eco-sensitive zones and disaster-prone areas, should be factored into the planning process in cities. The existing success stories and innovative technologies must be carefully studied so that the best practices could be adopted for the scheme, he said.
“The programme will cover the urban poor living in slums, urban homeless and new migrants to urban areas in search of shelter. It would cover metros, small towns and all urban areas,” a Ministry official said.
The programme will begin with a baseline survey to assess the demand for such housing and identify resource requirements. By an initial assessment, the government needs to build over six lakh houses in Delhi, 16 lakh in Mumbai and four lakh each in Chennai and Kolkata.
“These figures may go up after the demand assessment is completed,” the official said.
After the Prime Minister’s nod, the proposal will be sent to the Expenditure Finance Committee for further approvals.
