Centre approves major urban development schemes for Meghalaya

Shillong, Apr 17 (UNI) The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has approved a project under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) and two projects under the Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) in Meghalaya.

A Ministry official said here today that under the IHSDP, 456 new dwelling units had been approved for construction at the total project cost of Rs 21.82 crore. Out of this, the Central share of Rs 8.97 crore and state share of Rs 12.85 crore had been approved.

The first instalment of 50 per cent of Central share approved, amounting to Rs 4.48 crore, had been released.

The IHSDP was launched by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in December 2005 with a view to ameliorating the condition of the urban slum dwellers, who were residing in pathetic conditions.

The existing Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) and the discontinued National Slum Development Programme (NSDP) had been subsumed in the IHSDP, to strive for holistic slum development with a healthy and enabling urban environment by providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to the urban slum dwellers.

The programme covers all the towns, except the 63 mission towns/cities, covered under the Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Union Ministry also approved projects worth Rs 30.44 crore for relocation of 600 dwelling units in the mission city, Shillong, under the BSUP. The Central share of Rs 23.77 crore and state share of Rs 6.67 crore had been approved. The total Additional Central Assistance of Rs 5.94 crore had also been released by the Finance Ministry.

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