MINISTER OF STATE FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT & POVERTY ALLEVIATION ( SHRI BANDARU DATTATREYA )
(a)to(d): The details of the scheme of Valmiki Ambedkar Awas
Yojana containing the norms, objectives, manner of
implementation etc. including the component of Nirmal Bharat
Abhiyan are given in the Annexure.
(e)&(f): An amount of Rs.69 crores has been approved in the
revised estimates for 2001-2002. The information regarding the
approved budgetary provision for the 10th Five Year Plan has not
been received by this Ministry.
(g)&(h): The Central Sanctioning Committee for Valmiki Ambadkar
Awas Yojana considered the project proposals of the Governments
of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry,
Rajasthan, Delhi and Chhattisgarh. Some of the proposals were
approved by the Committee. No proposal in regard to the cities
of Mumbai and Pune has been received in this Ministry.
(i): Non-Government Organizations with proven good track
record, wherever applicable may be associated with the
construction of dwelling units as also can be entrusted some
role in the areas such as motivation, supervision, guidance and
monitoring.
ANNEXURE
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION
NO.148 FOR 26.2.2002.
VALMIKI AMBEDKAR AWAS YOJANA (VAMBAY)
Shelter is a basic human requirement. For a shelterless
person, getting a house brings about a profound social change in
status and welfare, endowing him with an identity and
integrating him with his social milieu. The provisional
estimates made from 2001 Census indicate that while India is
urbanising markedly, slums in urban India are increasing
alarmingly. The slum population in urban India is estimated to
be about 62 million.
There is at present no housing scheme in the Central
Sector for the urban poor. There are two Central Sector
programmes targeted towards the urban poor, namely the SJSRY and
NSDP. The SJSRY attempts to provide employment in order to
bring the urban poor above the poverty line while NSDP is
basically a programme for the environmental improvement of urban
slums. The urban poverty alleviation strategy is incomplete
without a significant component pertaiining to housing delivery
for the slum dwellers.
In order to fill this gap in a major policy initiative,
the Prime Minister of India announced a new Centrally Sponsored
Scheme called the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) on the
15th August, 2001 to ameliorate the conditions of the urban slum
dwellers living below poverty line.
The objective of VAMBAY is primarily to provide shelter
or upgrade the existing shelter for people living below the
poverty line in urban slums in a march towards the goal of
slumless cities with a healthy and enabling urban environment.
The target group under the VAMBAY will be all slum dwellers in
urban areas who are below the poverty line including members of
EWS who do not possess adequate shelter.
Another very important basic amenity for slum dwellers
especially in congested metropolitan cities is the lack of
rudimentary toilet facilities. A new National City Sanitation
Project under the title of `Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan` is an
integral sub component of VAMBAY. 20% of the total allocation
under VAMBAY will be used for the same at the rate of Rs.200
crores as loan from HUDCO and Rs.200 crore as subsidy. The
State Governments/Local Bodies of course will be free to
supplement this amount with their own grant or subsidy as the
case may be. The average cost for a community toilet seat has
been estimated to be Rs.40,000/- per seat. Therefore, a 10-seat
or a 20-seat toilet block meant for men, women and children with
separate compartments for each group and special design features
will cost around Rs.4 lakhs or Rs.8 lakhs respectively. Each
toilet block will be maintained by a group from among the slum
dwellers who will make a monthly contribution of about Rs.20 or
so per family and obtain a monthly pass or family card.
During the current financial year, 2001-02, a modest
beginning may be made with a limited sum of Rs.100 crore made
available out of the savings of the Ministry of Urban
Development. However, during the 10th Plan period when VAMBAY
will be launched in full swing, the annual allocation will be
Rs.1000 crores which will be matched with a long-term loan by
HUDCO of Rs.1000 crore on a 1:1 basis. The rate of interest of
this loan will be the same as the rate of interest charged by
HUDCO for EWS housing. State Government has the option to
mobilize its matching portion of 50% from other sources, such as
their own budget provision, resources of local bodies, loans
from other agencies, contributions from beneficiaries or NGOs
etc. In all cases, however, the Government of India subsidy
will only be released after the States matching share of 50% has
been released. Both the subsidy and the loan (when it is
required) will be released by HUDCO. The funds will be released
by HUDCO either to the State Urban Development Agency (SUDA),
District Urban Development Agency (DUDA) or any other agency
designated by the State Government.
The implementation of VAMBAY will be dovetailed and
synergised with other existing programmes such as NSDP and
SJSRY. The availability of drinking water, sanitation and
drainage facilities should be ensured under these programmes.
On an average, 25% of the funds under the scheme will be spent
for providing water and sanitation facilities including
approximately 20% of the amount for community sanitation project
- Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan.
Selection of beneficiaries will be made by the SUDA/DUDA
in consultation with the local authorities. Help of reputed
NGOs may be enlisted. They will also formulate projects,
prepare estimates and submit the same for sanction to the State
Government which will in turn recommend them to the Government
of India for release of funds allocated for each State.
In selecting the beneficiaries the following
reservation/percentage will be followed:
1. SC/ST - not less than 50% 2. Backward classes - 30% 3. Other weaker sections - 15%(OBC,BC,Etc.) 4. Physically & mentally - 5% disabled & handicapped persons and others
After identification of the beneficiaries, the latter
must be provided title as a pre-condition for the loan or
subsidy. This may be done by the State Government/Local Body
either by regularization in-situ or by relocation. The title to
the land should be in the name of the husband and wife jointly
or preferably in the name of the wife. Till the repayment of
the loan, if any, the house built with VAMBAY funds along with
the land shall be mortgaged to the State Government/implementing
agency. It may please be noted that no provision is made for
land acquisition in VAMBAY. No hard and fast type/design is
prescribed for VAMBAY dwelling units. However, the plinth area
of a new house should normally be not less than 15 sq.mts.
The upper financial limit for construction of VAMBAY
units normally will be Rs.40,000/- with provision for sanitary
toilet also. However, for metro cities with more than 1-million
population, it will be Rs.50,000/- and mega cities (Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore) it will be
Rs.60,000/- per unit. In hilly and difficult areas this ceiling
may be enhanced by 12.5%. A portion, say, 20% of the funds may
be used also for upgrading existing dwelling units in slums.
The upper limit for upgradation of an existing unit shall not be
more than 50% of the ceiling specified for construction of a new
house. The norms for Town & Country Planning of the State
Government and the rules and bye-laws of the Local Bodies
should, of course, be kept in view.
Monitoring of VAMBAY will be done by the State Government
and status report submitted to GOI regularly.
Entitlement of State/UT under VAMBAY will be initially
determined on the basis of slum population in the State or UT.
The State Governments are required to allocate the share for
cities and towns within the State/UT also on the same norm i.e.
in proportion to the slum population as a percentage of the
total slum population of the State.
The detailed proposals with cost estimates will be
processed and submitted by HUDCO to a Committee headed by the
Secretary, Deptt. of Urban Employment & Poverty Alleviation,
Minisitry of Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation. If,
however, sufficient proposals under VAMBAY are not forthcoming
from some of the States, the balance funds can be reallocated to
other States which have submitted their proposals.
