HUDCO to Provide Long Term Soft Loans of Rs. 3000 Crore For Construction of Houses in Uttarakhand

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (M/o HUPA) will help in planning, designing and reconstruction of devastated houses in Uttarakhand by deputing a Technical Team drawn from Housing & Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO), Building Material and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), Hindustan Prefab Limited (HPL).

This was stated by Dr. Girija Vyas, Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (M/oHUPA), while interacting with the media here today. She further stated that this Technical Team can further be augmented by experts from IIT Roorkee. This team will visit Uttarakhand on Saturday & Sunday and will assess the damage done by the natural calamity.

Assuring the State Government of Uttarakhand the full support of her Ministry, Dr. Vyas said that all affected Municipalities / Notified Area Councils in Uttarakhand can be covered under Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) as a special case to support reconstruction of houses of the poor and reconstruct and redevelop these devasted houses. Approximately 10,000 houses will be re-constructed by the Ministry under the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). Giving reference of her telephonic discussion with the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand today, she said that Housing & Urban Development Corporation Ltd (HUDCO) has been instructed to provide long term soft loans of Rs.3000 crore for 18-20 years duration for construction of Houses and for reconstruction of Infrastructure facilities. Further under Swarana Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY)/ National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) will supplement training for livelihood including assistance for self employment in urban areas through Ministry of Labour, Government of India. She said that her Ministry has also volunteered to coordinate the work of construction of houses under different funds/schemes of Government of India and HUDCO under CSR, has contributed Rs. 1.25 crore for rehabilitation/ reconstruction works for the flood and landslide victims, she added.

The Minister also announced that “all the employees of my Ministry including attached office and PSUs/ BMTPC etc have contributed one day’s salary for Uttarakhand”

Highlighting the progress made under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), Dr. Vyas stated that under the JnNURM sub missions of Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) being handled by M/o HUPA, 1.56 million houses have been sanctioned up to 31.05.2013 in these projects under 1608 projects of housing and basic amenities to the urban poor with an outlay of more than Rs.41,685/- crore. Further, additional Central Assistance (Grant) of Rs. 22,323/- crore has been committed already and additional Central Assistance of Rs. 15,733/- crore has been released. Under BSUP all 65 mission cities has been covered and 927 small and medium cities/towns have been covered under IHSDP. About 7,13,371 lakh have been completed and 3,79,070 lakh houses are in progress and 4,75,976 houses have been occupied, she added.

She further stated that JNNURM ended officially on 31st March 2012 but has been extended upto 31st March, 2014 for completing on going works and RAY pilot phase ended on 2nd June, 2013. The Minister also talked of the the process of launching Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) – implementation phase for 12th Plan by merging JNNURM with RAY.

In order to focus policy and programmatic attention to the issues of urban livelihoods in a structured manner, this Ministry has envisaged the launching of a ‘National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM)’ in the 12th Five Year Plan which will replace the existing Swarna Jayanti Sahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), she added. NULM would be target-oriented with specific focus on the issues pertaining to urban poverty such as skill up-gradation, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship development and employment creation through opportunities of wage employment and self-employment.

Scheme of Shelter for Urban Homeless (SUH) and Support to Urban Street Vendors are proposed to be part of NULM. Scheme of Shelter for Urban Homeless aims to provide shelter and all other essential services to the urban homeless. Support to Urban Street Vendors would address livelihood concerns of the urban street vendors by facilitating access to suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and skills to the urban street vendors for accessing emerging market opportunities.

The Minister stated that during the 12th Plan period it is proposed to provide skill training to 28 lakh people and loan and subsidy for setting up self-employment ventures to 2.8 lakh people. It is also proposed to construct 1600 shelters for the urban homeless people.


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