Govt okays construction of 5K housing units for poor

Delhi government on Tuesday approved in situ construction of 5,012 houses for the economically weaker section of the society.

The project, estimated to built at a cost of ₹654.33 crore, was approved in the board meeting of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) that was chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“These houses will be built at three locations. The maximum EWS houses (3,780) will be built at Pocket-F Bhalswa, Jahangirpuri, amounting to ₹493.40 crore,” a government official said. Another 784 houses, costing ₹102.28 crore, will come up at Karol Bagh’s Dev Nagar area and 448 other dwelling units worth ₹58.65 crore at Lajpat Nagar’s Kasturba Niketan, the official added.

“These housing complexes for in situ rehabilitation of urban slums in Delhi will be 14 storied each. The board will request the Delhi government to allocate ₹500 crore as seed money for taking up the proposed projects,” a government official said. The board also approved setting up of Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) Centre by allotting 10 Basti Vikas Kendras to Ambedkar University.

These ECCE centres will come up in areas like New Seemapuri, Aruna Nagar Colony, Raghubir Nagar, Narela, Bawana and Kalkaji.

“DUSIB has signed an MoU with Ambedkar University and these centres will now be set up in association with the Directorate of Higher Education,” the official added. The city will get 50 more mohalla clinics that will be built in DUSIB’s land across Delhi.

The issue of mohalla clinics was raised by the opposition in the monsoon session of Delhi Assembly held earlier this month.

At that time, health minister Satyendar Jain said that the government had prepared four Cabinet notes about it and that hurdles are being created in setting up mohalla clinics.

“Recently, the lieutenant governor (L-G) had given his approval to it, but there is confusion among officers on whether the L-G has given his go-ahead to all clinics or some such facilities,” he said.