29 July :The Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja has said that as announced by the President of India on June 4, 2009 Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) would extend support under JNNURM to States that are willing to assign property rights to people living in slum areas. The Ministry had a series of consultations with various stakeholders such as State Governments, Municipalities, private developers, experts, NGOs, activists, bankers, housing finance institutions, representatives from industry, Planning Commission, Central Ministries etc., regarding formulation of the scheme. Following these consultations an Expert Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Shri Deepak Parekh, which has given its recommendations. Pending finalization of the scheme and taking into account the recommendation of the Expert Committee, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has already started preparatory phase of RAY with release of Rs. 60 crores to States for conducting slum survey, undertaking GIS Mapping of slums and prepare slum-free city and State Plans.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today she said, the housing programme is not badly affected as the current schemes for housing the urban poor under Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP), the components of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) are continuing. The Government has taken the required steps for finalization of the parameters of RAY and its effective implementation by launching the preparatory phase of RAY and simultaneously undertaking an extensive participatory process of consultations with various agencies and departments who are critical for realizing the Slum-Free India vision.
