'JNNURM has taken on a whole-slum approach'

Q&A: Kumari Selja, Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation

There are two key initiatives of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, which will fructify in 2010 — the Model Real Estate Act and the blueprint for a slum-free India. There are concerns about how proactive the states will be. However, in an interview with Vandana Gombar, minister Kumari Selja is confident of bringing the states on board. Excerpts:

When will the draft Model Real Estate Act become a reality?
We are currently collating the feedback received from various stakeholders — the private sector, the states, the users — on the draft model Act. Everyone has their own view on it.

The Act proposes a housing regulator with which all builders will have to compulsorily register and show the finances at their disposal. They will have to furnish bank guarantees before starting a project, too. The builders could resist this move...

The real estate associations — like National Real Estate Development Council and Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India — are the ones who say they need a regulator, as unscrupulous players spoil everyone's name. We can be flexible on some of the provisions. We want to protect the interests of the consumer and also ensure that the real estate companies are not unnecessarily harassed.

Once the Model Act is finalised, each state will have to enact its own legislation. It seems like a long drawn out process...
We expect this to be a reality next year, in some states at least.

Will you not incentivise the enacting of the law for a real estate regulator? After all, there are vested interests very comfortable with maintaining the status quo…
That may be true in some cases. We will, however, push for it. We will try moral persuasion with the states. If needed, we can think further. This is step one.

Your ministry is also working on a blueprint for a slum-free India. What is the status of that?
We have had programmes for developing slums before, like the National Slum Development programme and the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana. They focused on one aspect of the slums at one time. So, if street-lighting was taken care of, water was not. There was no holistic approach. It was an attempt, not an answer.

JNNURM took on a whole-slum approach. It encouraged in situ (on site) development rather than relocation. Now, when we look at a slum-free India, we need to look at slum-free states and slum-free cities. The city or the town becomes the basic planning unit.

When will we actually see a slum-free India?
I am cautious about time lines. We have to work on existing slums and also prevent growth of future slums. We lacked planning so far. We need to take the states along. They need to recognise the problem. There can’t be any magic solutions. We have to acknowledge the problem, and understand the dimensions of the problem.

Do you know that, even now, we have no authentic data on the existence of slums? To give you an example, Patna says only 0.03 per cent of its population lives in slums. Pushing things under the carpet is not going to help.

Slums are to be developed through the Rajiv Awaas Yojana. What funding is available for this programme?
It is still being worked out. It will be financed jointly by the Centre and the states. We expect the programme to kick off early next year.