‘Sanction 15,000 homes under Rajiv Awas Yojana’
The Thane city unit of Congress has urged the Union government to sanction 15,000 dwelling units under the Rajiv Awas Yojana for the city on priority basis.
Thane Congress chief Balkrishna Purnekar along with Rajya Sabha MP Hussan Dalvai recently met Union housing and urban poverty alleviation minister Ajay Maken in Delhi with the demand.
They said that the Rajiv Awas Yojana would help solve cities growing shelter demands.
In their memorandum given to the Union minister, the Thane Congress has made 15 demands for effective implementation of the scheme including making available transit camps for those who would be rendered homeless after the razing of illegal structures.
“The demand of affordable housing is very high compared to availability of such stock. The GOM is trying its best, but couldn’t succeed. This has given rise to unauthorised and unplanned development. Land mafia and builders in collusion with local officers of corporation and revenue authority, are grabbing the land and developing the same in an unauthorised manner,” the leaders have said in the memorandum.
“The building collapse in Mumbra is an eye-opener as far such illegal/unauthorised construction is concerned. This can only be prevented if systematic efforts are made for creating sufficient number of affordable houses,” they added.
According to the Thane Municipal Corporation, as many as 70 per cent of the buildings in the Thane district are unauthorised.
These buildings are of poor quality and pose a threat to lives over a period of time. At present, there are about 1,100 such buildings in Thane city.
The leaders who met Mr Maken demanded the introduction of land pooling and acquisition policy, wherein urban local bodies (ULB).
“A beneficiary selection and monitoring committee comprising nine persons should be appointed for selection of beneficiaries of the scheme,” the memorandum urged.
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