Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday launched ‘Abaas’ for poor and slum dwellers living in urban areas.
Abaas would serve to fulfil the promise of protection and welfare of slum dwellers by providing affordable housing along with basic amenities such as piped water supply, electricity, concrete roads, drainage and community centre, said Patnaik after launching the mission here.
The Government has already notified ‘Policy for Housing for All in Urban Areas’ for providing enabling framework for implementation of affordable housing projects, slum rehabilitation and re-development projects and to facilitate development of housing schemes in urban areas.
The Government has also decided to provide land free of cost to construct houses for economically weaker sections, low income groups and slum dwellers to make the houses affordable to them, he added.
“To ensure time bound construction of large number of housing projects in various urban areas, a dedicated Mission Directorate for implementation of this policy will be set up by the Government,” Patnaik said. Earlier at a function at Buddha Park in the capital city, Patnaik laid the foundation for housing projects for people of economically weaker sections and slum dwellers of Nakhara, Pandara, Ghatikia and Chandrasekharpur.
Though the scheme is part of the Pradham Mantri Awaas Yojana, the State Government has preferred to nickname the scheme as Abaas under the Odisha Urban Housing Mission and Policy. Under the programme, the Centre would provide Rs 1 lakh as assistance for each dwelling unit and the remaining amount would be paid by the State Government, development authorities and the beneficiary.
The Centre aims to build more than two crore houses across the length and breadth of the country within the next seven years.
The State Government has set a target to build one lakh houses. In the first phase, more than 5,000 houses would be constructed for the poor.