Aug 01, 2024 02:54 PM IST
The ISSR scheme aims houses to the eligible slum dwellers bringing them into the formal urban settlement
New Delhi: Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi and former minister Ajay Maken on Wednesday said the flagship Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) (PMAYU) scheme of the Union government is failing to help the urban poor, who are the intended beneficiaries.
The PMAY(U), a pet scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has four sub-schemes or verticals, namely Beneficiary Led Construction/Enhancement (BLC), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR), and Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).
Maken was speaking in House as part of a discussion on the housing and urban development ministry.
Maken said that the ISSR sub-scheme is the most important part of the four verticals. However, he said, “Among the approximately 8.4 million houses delivered in the scheme, only more than 100,000—at the most, only 2%—have been built for slum dwellers.”
The ISSR scheme aims houses to the eligible slum dwellers bringing them into the formal urban settlement.
Maken also quoted a Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs report on the issue, which noted that the slum decadal growth was 34%. “In line with this, it is wrong that only 1.63% of the houses under the scheme have been built under ISSR,” he said.
Maken said the central grant of Rs.1 lakh is too low, stating how it is impossible to even cover the cost of flooring for a house in that amount.
He added that 60% of the houses in the scheme are built in BLC, but out of that, the sub-scheme is meant for people who already own land and questioned if any person who owns land in the city can be considered poor.
He further stated another 30% of the scheme was availed under the CLSS scheme, which is again for the middle-income group, and the remaining 7-8% were given to private companies to provide assisted housing projects.
Elaborating on the CLSS sub-scheme, Maken said the beneficiaries are dependent on bank loans, which means they either own land or are buying home from a private builder, and questioned how state and Union government schemes are failing in cities to check the growth of slums and are only helping builders.
HT had reported in December 2023 how the standing committee had flagged the issue of the ministry counting housing units as “completed” when basic amenities such as accessible roads, sewerage, water, and electricity connections were not provided.
The report also flagged how the actual poor did not benefit from the scheme, as 60% of the housing cost had to be borne by the beneficiaries themselves.
Maken praised the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s Rajiv Awas Yojna, where a minimum of Rs.2.5 lakh of central government assistance was provided in 2013.
“However, unfortunately, rather than the central government component increasing, the assistance has reduced,” he said.
The Centre has, however, maintained that the number of houses built has been multifold under PMAY(U) compared to the previous scheme.
The Hindustan Times YouTube channel now has 7 million subscribers. We thank our viewers for their support. Follow the channel for exclusive video news on politics, sports, entertainment & more. Click here.
See more
