Question : Houses for the Urban Poor in Tamil Nadu

Will the Minister of HOUSING AND URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has received any request from the Government of
Tamil Nadu to sanction a special project for the construction of 50,000 houses for the poor people living in the banks of Adyar river, Coovam and Buckingham Channel in Chennai and nearby other water bodies in Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to expedite
the same;

(c) the amount released in the last three years, year-wise as against the total
sanctioned amount during the corresponding periods for the construction of houses for the urban poor in Tamil Nadu; and

(d) the steps taken by the Government to provide adequate support to the Government of Tamil Nadu for providing the poor people who lost their houses and belongings during the heavy floods during December 2015?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING & URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION
(RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a) & (b): A request was made in December, 2015 by State Government of Tamil Nadu for grant of special package of Rs. 5,000 crore for construction of 50,000 houses for the families living along the banks of Adyar River, Coovam and Buckingham Canal and other water bodies in Chennai city and its sub-urban areas at a unit cost of Rs. 10 lakh each. The State Government had also requested for sanction of additional grant of Rs. 750 crore under Housing for All Mission during the financial year 2015-16 for construction of another 50,000 houses in Chennai and adjoining urban areas for the slum dwellers whose dwelling units have severely been damaged/lost due to floods.

As the sanction of special package is beyond the scope of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) {PMAY(U)} mission, the State Government of Tamil Nadu was requested by the Ministry to approach appropriate authorities in this regard.

In so far as grant under “Housing for All” is concerned, a total of 989 projects have been considered for central assistance of Rs. 3,325.38 crore for construction of 2,21,692 houses for urban poor in the State of Tamil Nadu under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). Central Assistance of Rs. 630.43 crore has been released so far as part of 1st instalment for these projects.

(c): For construction of houses for urban poor in Tamil Nadu, a total of 1149 projects have been approved for construction of 3,54,007 houses under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) and PMAY(U) so far involving Central Assistance of Rs. 4883.23 crore of which Rs. 2163.72 crore has been released. In addition, under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) of PMAY(U), central assistance in the form of interest subsidy of Rs. 18.80 crore has been credited to the loan account of 1128 beneficiaries for acquiring new houses.

The details of amount released as against the total amount sanctioned during each of last three years and the current financial year for construction of houses for urban poor in Tamil Nadu is Annexed.

(d): The State Governments including Tamil Nadu have been requested to complete demand assessment and submit project proposals to the Ministry for availing central assistance for construction of houses under PMAY(U) to meet housing requirement for their urban poor.

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