Shortage Of 33.5 Lakh Houses For Poor

Union Minister for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that Andhra Pradesh is facing a shortfall of almost 20 lakh houses in urban areas and about 13.5 lakh houses in rural areas.

Selja, in a written reply to a question, said the Centre is aware that of the acute shortage of houses for people below poverty line in the country.

The Technical Group On Estimation Of Housing Shortage, under the chairmanship of Prof. Amitabh Kundu, constituted by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, has estimated the total shortage of dwelling units at the beginning of the 11th Plan Period (2007) as 247 lakh.

Out of this, about 99% of the shortage is estimated for the EWS/LIG category of the population living in the urban areas of the country.

In AP, the urban housing shortage has been estimated 1.95 million houses, the Union Minister said.

She further said that the Ministry of Rural Development has reported that the total housing shortage in rural areas throughout the country is 148.25 lakh houses, as per estimates made by the Office of Registrar General of India based on the 2001 Census.

In Andhra Pradesh, the rural housing shortage was 13,50,282 houses, she said.

Selja further said that housing being a state subject, it is upto the state governments concerned to formulate schemes to address the problem of housing shortage.

However, to address the shortage in urban areas, the central government launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) on 3 December 2005.

Under Basic Services To Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development program(IHSDP)- both components of JNNURM - central assistance is provided to states and union territories, including AP to undertake housing and slum infrastructure projects in 65 cities under BSUP and in other cities/towns under IHSDP.

Selja added that the Centre also launched the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) in 2011 to provide financial assistance to states that are willing to assign property rights to slum dwellers for the provision of shelter and basic civic and social services for slum redevelopment, and for the creation of affordable housing stock.

To encourage the creation of affordable housing stock, the existing schemes of Affordable Housing In Partnership and Interest Subsidy Scheme For Housing The Urban Poor have been dovetailed into RAY.

Further, the Ministry of Rural Development has reported that Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) is being implemented in many rural areas in the country, including Andhra Pradesh.

Under this scheme, financial assistance is provided to rural BPL households for the construction of dwelling units. (INN)