Cabinet okays new scheme to re-house slum dwellers
03 Jun 2011
The union cabinet on Thursday approved an ambitious scheme to provide affordable housing to millions of slum dwellers.
Under the scheme, called Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), low-cost houses will be built to benefit 32 million slum-dwellers in 250 cities and towns during the 12th Five Year Plan. The public-private partnership model would be followed to develop these dwellings.
A meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has approved the first phase of the scheme, home minister P Chidambaram said after the meeting. The finance ministry has allocated Rs800 crore for RAY for the current financial year.
The existing schemes - Affordable Housing in PPP and Interest Subvention for Housing the Urban Poor - have been integrated with RAY.
Under the RAY, 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. States would be responsible for identifying and assigning property rights to slum-dwellers.
"They (slum dwellers) will benefit by way of property rights and access to decent shelter, basic amenities and a dignified life," Chidambaram said, adding that the initiative would also prevent mushrooming of slums.