Twenty-five per cent of JNNRUM houses lying unoccupied: minister

Twenty-five per cent of the houses constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) across the country are still to be occupied, minister of state for housing and urban poverty alleviation Babul Supriyo informed the in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Out of 13,92,589 houses sanctioned for urban poor under the JNNURM, construction of 9,80,216 dwelling units has been completed (71 per cent) of which 2,37,546 houses (25 per cent) are still to be occupied by the beneficiaries, the minister stated in a written reply.

A total of 1,695 housing projects were sanctioned under JNNURM and Rajiv Awas Yojana, at a total cost of Rs40,536 crore, involving central assistance of Rs21,101 crore for construction of 13,92,589 houses, the minister stated.

JNNURM was brought to a close by 31 March 2014 by the previous UPA government and, according to the minister, the present government has extended time for completion of housing projects.

Maharashtra topped the list with 52,966 of 1,23,963 houses still vacant, followed by Gujarat (29,126/1,18,044), Delhi (26,759/27,344), Madhya Pradesh (26,004/33,081), Andhra Pradesh (23,688/62,949), Telangana (21,578/73,795), Uttar Pradesh (14,890/61,169), Chattisgarh  (8,875/18,662), Tamil Nadu (7,517/1,10,129) and Karnataka with 7,157 of the 42,879 houses lying vacant. These 10 states accounted for 92 per cent of the total houses lying vacant.

In terms of vacancy ratio, Delhi topped the list with 98 per cent of JNNURM houses lying vacant followed by MP (79 per cent), Punjab (78 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (63 per cent), Chattisgarh (48 per cent), Maharashtra (43 per cent), Sikkim (43 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (38 per cent) and Telangana (29 per cent).

Among the good performers in respect of occupation of JNNURM houses, Tripura topped the list with all 3,371 houses occupied and closely followed by West Bengal reporting 99.50 per cent occupancy with only 846 of 1,55,141 houses constructed to be occupied. Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Manipur and Jharkhand also reported more than 99 per cent occupancy.

Other states to have done well include Odisha with only 2 per cent vacancy, Kerala (3 per cent), Tamil Nadu (7 per cent), Rajasthan (11 per cent), Jharkhand (15 per cent) and Karnataka with 17 per cent vacant houses.

For other states, vacancy ratio is 21 per cent for Haryana, Uttarakhand (23 per cent), UP (24 per cent) and Gujarat (25 per cent).

States have been asked to complete the ongoing housing projects by the extended date of 31 March 2017 and to take necessary measures to ensure occupation of all houses, Supriyo added.