Environment clearances bottlenecks for housing: Venkaiah

Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu Monday described as "bottleneck" the mandatory green clearance required for housing projects and said he will take up the issue soon.

"The environmental clearances appear to be a bottleneck for housing projects which I will take up separately with the ministry of environment and forests," Naidu said here.

Naidu said that housing for all is a challenging task since the ministry has Rs.35,000 crore for the project which is too small an amount.

"It is for this reason that public-private partnership and CSR (corporate social responsibility) is required in this sector" he said.

Naidu also asked corporates, public sector undertakings, the local bodies, and financial institutions like LIC and banks, among others, to take up the responsibility of providing affordable housing to their personnel.

He pointed out that 2022 is the 75th year of India's freedom by when the dream of the urban poor for housing with convergent services needs to be realised.