India faces shortage of 24.71 million houses: Govt

New Delhi, Aug 17 (UNI) The Technical Group on estimation of urban housing shortage, set up by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, has forecast a shortage to the tune of 24.71 million houses in the urban areas of the country at the beginning of the 11th five year plan, which is likely to go upto 26.53 million by 2012, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Housng and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja in a written answer said the majority part of this housing shortage pertains to the economically weaker section of the society.

The Government has launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to provide necessary amenities to the urban por in 63 select cities under the Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) programme. For non-mission cities, for taking up housing and slum upgradation programmes and providing other civic amenities, the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) has been launched. Both BSUP and IHSDP are under implementation since December, 2005.

She said the details of the total project cost approved is Rs 12905.28 crores and the amount released by the Government so far under BSUP and IHSDP are placed at Rs 1698.06 crores.

UNI