'Sweet little home' still a big dream for millions of Urban poor:Gov

New Delhi, Aug 24 (UNI) When it comes to roof overhead, the cities are the worst place for the economically weaker sections to live in, the Lok Sabha was told today.

These sections were facing acute shortage of shelter in the urban areas, with 21.7 million houses needed at the beginning of the 11th Plan period, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ms Selja told the House in a written reply.

The need for Low Income Group (LIG) was 2.89 million houses and for the Middle Income Group (MIG) and Higher Income Group (HIG) 0.04 million houses.

The country needed an estimated 24.71 million houses more in urban areas, she said, adding that these figures were based on the report of the Working Group on Urban Housing of the IIth Plan.

The Minister said the Government had launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in 2005 and her Ministry was implementing two schemes under the Mission viz., Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP).

While the former aims at providing basic infrastructure in 63 cities of the country, the latter strives for holistic slum development with a healthy environment by providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to the slum dwellers of the identified urban areas.

Apart from this an Interest Rate Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor is being finalised in consultation with the Planning Commission to provide subsidy in the interest rate to EWS and LIG category people of the urban areas while availing of home loans, she said.

UNI