Centre's urban housing scheme to be implemented in Delhi soon

The Centre's urban housing scheme is set to be implemented in Delhi, nearly two years after the launch of the programme, after a key issue was resolved at a meeting chaired by L-G Anil Baijal recently.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) inks agreement with state governments for implementation of the scheme.
The Delhi government had argued that since the land ownership in Delhi is under the jurisdiction of the Centre, which holds it through Delhi Development Authority (DDA), it would not be prudent to make some commitments on its part, an official said.

Some land in the national capital also lies with the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) which is under the Delhi government.
In a meeting held last month under the chairmanship of Delhi L-G Anil Baijal, it was decided that the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) will now be signed between the HUPA, the DDA and the DUSIB, enabling implementation of the Urban Housing Mission in Delhi, the official said.
The MoA requires the states to commit that they would comply with certain mandatory conditions, including amending the master plan for earmarking land for affordable housing and putting in place a single window for time-bound clearance system for layout approvals and building permissions.

The DDA and the DUSIB will be state-level nodal agencies as required under the guidelines for implementing various components of the PMAY (Urban) scheme, the official said.
The HUPA ministry has so far approved construction of over 18.75 lakh affordable houses for the urban poor in the country with an investment of over Rs 1 lakh crore and Central assistance of Rs 29,409 crore.