As part of the 100-day agenda minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja on Wednesday said she wanted to launch the Rajiv Awas Yojana, which apart from providing property rights to slum dwellers and urban poor, will provide basic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, drainage, internal and approach roads, street lighting and social infrastructure facilities in slums and low income settlements. The housing ministry has estimated a cost of Rs 4,500 crore to implement this scheme.
The housing ministry is also planning to explore the public-private partnership (PPP) model for affordable housing for the urban poor. Selja said that the stake holder for the scheme will include the urban poor, municipalities, parastatal authorities, state and central governments and private developers.
So far master plans of cities failed to consider dwelling space for the urban poor. As a result illegal slum development took place in most Indian cities. The ministry will demand for ?inclusive? master plans for cities which will deal with the concerns of the urban poor for affordable housing and informal sector activities.
The ministry will support an inclusive city campaign involving all stakeholders to alter the existing city planning model and prepare ?inclusive? master plans/city development plans that adequately address the concerns of the urban poor for affordable housing and informal sector activities which engage most of the urban poor.