The Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Venkaiah Naidu, on Friday said that nearly nine lakh people from Haryana had applied online for houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban).
Naidu said that he has requested the Haryana Government to complete the demand survey by the end of July this year and submit the ‘Housing for All’ plan of action by August 2018.
The Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister was addressing a press conference after presiding over a meeting to review various schemes here. He was accompanied by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar and Urban local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain.
So far, a total online demand of 8.97 lakh houses has been received under PMAY from Haryana.
The Union Minister said, “The Centre has announced that the Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) would come into force on May 1. Haryana Government has assured me that the Act would be fully implemented. The government is in advance stage of notifying the rules and setting up the authority or tribunal.”
On including Gurugram in the smart city project, Naidu said the Central Government would provide all technical support to Haryana for developing Gurugram as a smart city, whereas the funding would be made by the State Government. The smart city proposal for Karnal will be evaluated as a part of the Round 3 of City Challenge, said he.
Faridabad has set up Special Purpose Vehicle for implementation of the Smart City Mission. "Today, I have handed over second tranche of Rs 96 crore to the State Government. The first tranche of Rs 92 crore was released on January 4, 2017", Naidu said.
After reviewing implementation of various schemes in Haryana, the Union Minister said that the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) had sanctioned 25 infrastructure projects for Haryana related to urban transport and water supply with a loan assistance of Rs 1,552 crore. Apart from this, additional 15 projects costing Rs 504 crore, will soon be sanctioned, he said.
Naidu said the Centre had recently sanctioned metro extension from Escort Mujesar, Faridabad, to Ballabhgarh with a length of 3.2 kilometers at a cost of Rs 580 crore. Targeted for commissioning by June 2018, this extension would benefit the people of Ballabhgarh and other surrounding areas.
Final detailed project report for the metro connection between Narela and Kundli with a length of 4.8 kms has been submitted recently by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to the Haryana Government. The cost of this extension is estimated to be Rs 1,120 crore, said he.
He added, the feasibility report of the Express Metro Connectivity between Bata Chowk, one of the stations on the Badarpur-Escort Mujesar in Faridabad, and the proposed metro station in Sector 45 Gurugram, with a length of 31 kms, had been submitted to the Haryana Government by the DMRC.
Similarly, feasibility report for Metro connection between HUDA city centre and old Gurugram Railway station, and, further to Sector 21, Dwarka via Palam Vihar with a length of 29 kms, has been prepared and submitted recently by the DMRC to the State Government, he said.
The Union Minister said the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) was implementing Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS), a rail-based high-speed point-to-point connectivity with station at every five to ten kms. It is a transformational project which would reduce the travel time significantly.
Out of the three corridors to be implemented on priority, two fall in Haryana including 110-km Delhi-Panipat and 180-km Delhi-Gurugram-Rewari-Alwar. All three corridors are interconnected and trains could move from one corridor to another seamlessly, he informed.
Such high-speed connectivity would spur widespread economic activity and overall sustainable development of the region. A total investment of Rs 50,000 crore would be made on these two corridors, he added.
The Union Minister further said that development will not be allowed to suffer due to fund constraints. Naidu said the BJP Government at the Centre did not believe in discrimination with different states on political basis, but it believed in cooperation. The concept of “One India-One Nation” has been reinforced with this agenda, he added.
Responding to a question on the Sutlej Yamuna link canal, the Minister said though such issues cannot be resolved at press conferences, the Centre would definitely take into consideration Haryana’s interests.