Umbrella dept to push low-cost housing in state
GURUGRAM: The Haryana government will set up a new department, Housing for All, to bring all housing schemes being implemented by different departments, boards and corporations in the state, under one roof.
The decision was announced by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar while presenting the state budget for the year 2020-21, during the ongoing Budget session in the state assembly in Chandigarh.
The chief minister said that housing schemes being run by various departments — such as those being run for the BPL/ EWS categories by the Housing Board, Haryana, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-urban by the Urban Local Bodies Department and several others — would all be brought under the purview of the Housing For All department.
Sharing details of the ongoing schemes, Khattar said that under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-rural, 4,549 houses were been constructed in the year 2019-20 and 5,860 more houses are under construction. A total of ₹43.67 crore was spent on it.
He said that for the year 2020-21, an outlay of ₹32 crore has been proposed under the scheme. Similarly, an outlay of ₹255 crore has been proposed for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-urban.
Khattar said that the government would also overcome the difficulties in the allocation of 100 yards plot to the beneficiaries of Mahatma Gandhi Grameen Basti Yojana. With a view to facilitate the beneficiaries in construction of their houses, they would be linked with the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojanarural, he added.
The CM also announced that since not much work has been done for providing rental housing in the past, the state government will formulate a new policy for rental housing to promote this concept. Action will be taken in this regard in the coming financial year, so that students, senior citizens, women and those who need such housing are benefitted from it.
In this regard, Khattar had also asked developers in the state to come forward with a plan to build low-cost houses across the state for meeting this demand, during a pre-budget consultation meeting in the city.