Intending to make Indian cities slum-free, the government on Thursday gave its nod to launch an ambitious low-cost housing scheme — Rajiv Awas Yojana — to benefit 32 million urban poor in 250 cities. Under the scheme, the government proposes to give property right to the owners of the houses and for the purpose the Centre has decided to rope in states and private developers.
A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared the proposal made by the ministry housing and urban poverty alleviation (HUPA). “The CCEA meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved launch of the first phase of Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) to facilitate affordable housing for slum dwellers,” home minister P. Chidambaram said.
The aim of the scheme would be to encourage low-cost housing as well as develop the slums, he said, adding this would go a long way to check proliferation of slums.
The Centre would bear 50 per cent of the cost of slum redevelopment, which could be used by the states and cities towards viability gap funding in order to encourage private sector participation.
The government also decided to establish a mortgage risk guarantee fund to facilitate lending.