1.15 lakh dwelling units sanctioned for Maharashtra under JNURM

Nagpur, Dec 15: The Centre has sanctioned the construction of 1,15,058 dwelling units in Maharashtra under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (NJURM), Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told the State Legislative Assembly today.

Replying to a motion moved by the opposition on the State Government's draft housing policy, Mr Deshmukh said the dwelling units were proposed to be constructed in the metropolitan regions in Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, Nashik, Nanded and Nagpur.

The proposed dwelling units, of carpet area of 225 square feet each, would include those for beneficiaries from the slum rehabilitation scheme and the low-income group, he said.

Mr Deshmukh said 23,011 units would be constructed in Mumbai, including 6,000 for mill workers, 6,000 for transit camps and 5,000 for beneficiaries from the low income group.

The Centre would give a grant of 50 per cent towards the cost of constructing the dwelling unit, with the beneficiaries having to contribute 10 per cent if from SC or ST, and 12 per cent otherwise, hesaid. The balance is to be shared by the state government and the local self-government authority concerned, he added.

These units had been sanctioned under the Basic Service to the Urban Poor (BSUP) component of JNURM, the Chief Minister said.

Mr Deshmukh said under its draft housing policy, the Maharashtra Government proposed to establish a Housing Regulatory Commission to provide consumers a forum for redress of grievances. The state government proposed to construct 2.0 lakh dwelling units in rural areas and 5.0 lakh in urban areas of Maharashtra under the proposed policy, he said. Similarly, 25 per cent of the slums in the State would be rehabilitated and 25 per cent of the 19,000 old and dilapidated buildings in Mumbai would be re-developed in three years after the policy came into force, Mr Deshmukh said.

Reiterating that nobody would be evicted from slums that had come up between 1995 and 2000, Mr Deshmukh said that the State Government would file an appeal against a recent High Court ruling preventing the rehabilitation of post-1995 slums.

The state government had decided to allow developers to utilise the extra FSI (floor space index) available in Mumbai in areas up to Virar and Kalyan to ensure affordable housing for all, Mr Deshmukh told the House.

UNI