Forty eight per cent of the houses built under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in Chhattisgarh still remains to be occupied, the Centre has informed.
There are 8,875 units occupied out of 18,662 in Chhattisgarh, it stated.
Out of 13,92,589 houses sanctioned for urban poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in the country, construction of 9,80,216 dwelling units has been completed (71%) of which 2,37,546 houses (25%) are still to be occupied by the beneficiaries, it stated.
Under JNNURM and Rajiv Awas Yojana, a total of 1,695 housing projects were sanctioned at a total cost of Rs 40,536 crore involving Central assistance of Rs 21,101 crore for construction of 13,92,589 houses.
JNNURM was brought to a close by Match 31, 2014 by the earlier Government and the present Government has extended time for completion of housing projects.
Maharashtra topped the list with 52,966 of 1,23,963 houses still vacant followed by Gujarat (29,126/1,18,044), Delhi (26,759/27,344), Madhya Pradesh (26,004/33,081), Andhra Pradesh (23,688/62,949), Telangana(21,578/73,795), Uttar Pradesh (14,890/61,169), Tamil Nadu(7,517/1,10,129) and Karnataka with 7,157 of the 42,879 houses lying vacant. These 10 States accounted for 92% of the total houses lying vacant.
In terms of vacancy ratio, Delhi topped the list with 98% of JNNURM houses lying vacant followed by MP-79%, Punjab-78% (4,345/5,534), Himachal Pradesh-63% (516/818), Chattisgarh-48%, Maharashtra-43%, Sikkim-43% (111/260), Andhra Pradesh -38% and Telangana-29%.
Among the good performers in respect of occupation of JNNURM houses, Tripura topped the list with all 3,371 houses occupied and closely followed by West Bengal reporting 99.50% occupancy with only 846 of 1,55,141 houses constructed to be occupied. Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Manipur and Jharkhand also reported more than 99% occupancy.
Other States to have done well include Odisha with only 2% vacancy, Kerala-3%, Tamil Nadu-7%, Rajasthan-11%, Jharkhand-15% and Karnataka with 17% vacant houses.
For other States, vacancy ratio is 21% for Haryana, Uttarakhand-23%, UP-24% and Gujarat-25%.
The States have been asked to complete the ongoing housing projects by the extended date of March 31, 2017 and to take necessary measures to ensure occupation of all houses.
Notably, Chhattisgarh has become the first State to get Central Government’s approval for taking up affordable housing projects in urban areas under Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana (PMAY) launched in June this year.
An inter-ministerial Central Sanctioning-cum-Monitoring Committee chaired by Dr Nandita Chatterjee, Secretary (Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation) approved Chhattisgarh Government’s proposals for building 26,034 houses in 11 cities and towns in the State. Of these, 12,670 are for beneficiaries belonging to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and 13,364 for low Income Group (lIG).
The projects approved will be taken up in Raipur, Naya Raipur, Bhilai industrial Estate, Rajnandagaon, Nardaha(Raipur), Jorapalli(Raigarh), Bilaspur(Chilhati), Shriramnagar (kanker), Machewa(Mahasamund), Balod(Sivni) and Sukma, officials stated.
Houses for EWS have been sanctioned under the ‘Affordable Housing in Partnership’ component of PMAY. The Central Sanctioning Committee also approved central assistance of Rs 190 crore for these 12,670 EWS houses @ Rs 1.50 lakhs as per Mission Guidelines. lIG houses will be built under Credit linked Subsidy component of Housing Mission for which Central Nodal Agencies–National Housing Bank and HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation) have been authorised to provide interest subsidy @ 6.50% on loans up to Rs 6.00 lakhs for each eligible beneficiary for a loan tenure of 15 years.
The Committee also approved release of first installment of Rs 76 crore to Chattisgarh Government. State Urban Development Agency is the nodal agency for housing mission while Chattisgarh Housing Board is the implementing agency.
Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) is meant only for beneficiaries belonging to EWS under which 35% of the houses proposed to be built shall be reserved for EWS with project size of minimum of 250 houses. Reservation for EWS in the AHP Projects approved for Chattisgarh in 11 cities ranged from 36% to 52%.
City-wise details of EWS houses to be built are : Raipur-3104, Naya Raipur-7720, Bhilai Industrial Estate-192, Rajnandgaon-272, Raipur(Nardaha)-192, Jorapalli-144, Chilhati-272, Shriramnagar-134, Machewa-336, Balod-140 and Sukma-164.
CGHB will also be constructing 4168 lIG flats and another 3104 EWS flats under 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana' at Kamal Vihar scheme being implemented near Raipur
city.
The housing units would be constructed in 25.53 hectares of land using RCC Precast Technology in 18 different locations of the scheme, officials stated.