Odisha to become first state to launch housing for all project

New Delhi: Odisha is set to become the first state to take up construction of houses for urban poor under the 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana', launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June this year.

Odisha government will launch two housing projects under the Housing for All (Urban) Mission on September 1, Odisha

Principal Secretary (Urban Development), G Mathi Vathanan, announced this at a workshop organised by the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Ministry on Wedneaday.

HUPA Ministry had organised a consultative workshop for the Northern, Eastern and North- Eastern States on Housing for All (Urban) Scheme.

The Odisha government official informed that two housing projects would be launched in Bhubaneswar on government land under which about 700 houses would be built for urban poor under the "Affordable Housing in Partnership" component of urban housing mission.

Addressing the states, HUPA Secretary Nandita Chatterjee urged them "to move fast on the mission as it offered the best opportunity to meet the housing needs of urban poor." Twenty two states from these three regions besides

Telangana and Kerala attended the workshop for discussing various aspects of implementation of housing mission in urban areas.

Chatterjee asked the states to ensure signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Ministry of HUPA regarding implementation of mandatory reforms and selection of cities for taking up housing projects by the end of this month.

Odisha also became the first state to have submitted a comprehensive Housing for All action plan for the state which was appreciated by the HUPA Ministry and was requested to provide a copy of the plan to other states.

Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, so far, came forward to sign MoA while others agreed to do so by the end of this month. Delhi government sought time to sign MoA stating that land was with Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and it needed to be made a party to the implementation of housing mission before the signing of MoA.

Uttar Pradesh Government sought time till the end of next month stating that the State Urban Development Agency was only recently declared as the nodal agency for the urban housing mission.