Delhi govt allocates Rs 3,913 crore for housing and urban development

The Delhi government Tuesday allocated Rs 3,914 crore for the housing and urban development sector in the 2019-20 budget, with Rs 1,600 crore being proposed for development works in unauthorised and resettlement colonies.

The budget was presented in the Delhi Assembly by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio.

Under the Rs 1,600 crore outlay, the AAP government proposes to provide basic infrastructure facilities such as providing roads, drains, water supply, sewerage, sanitation and street lights to improve living conditions of people living in the unauthorised colonies, he said.

"I propose an outlay of Rs 3,914 crore for housing and urban development in 2019-20 for implementation of scheme and projects, which is 33.49 per cent higher than the revised estimates of Rs 2,932 crore in 2018-19," the deputy chief minister said.

The outlay of Rs 1600 crore includes Rs 600 crore for water supply and sewerage, he said.

Sisodia said affordable housing and availability of low cost 'pucca' houses are big problems for the poor and lower-middle class people in Delhi.

There are 14 housing projects for construction of houses for the economically weaker section."These are at various stages of completion by the DSIIDC (Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation) and DUSIB (Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board)," he said.

Under the Mukhya Mantri Sadak Punarnirman Yojana, the government started developmental works of roads, streets in areas of urban local bodies, group housing societies and regularised unauthorised colonies from 2018-19, the deputy chief minister said.

Fund under the scheme is being released to the local bodies and executing agencies as per recommendations of local MLAs.

He said an outlay of Rs 800 crore has been proposed in the budget for this scheme.

Delhi is the first state to substantially enhance the budget under the MLA Local Area Development (MLALAD) scheme for development of areas in assembly constituencies. MLALAD budget has been increased from Rs 4 crore to Rs 10 crore per annum per constituency, "which is the highest by any state government and by Central government", Sisodia said.

"This will enable MLAs to address local development issues efficiently.Total amount of Rs 800 crore is proposed under the scheme in 2019-20," he said.

Sisodia informed that that DUSIB has been consistently making efforts to give good sanitation facility to 'jhuggi' dwellers and has constructed 640 Jan Suvidha complexes with 20,476 functional seats and made the facility free of charges from January 1 last year.

Cleanliness of Jan Suvidha Complexes has been outsourced to agencies. The effort of the DUSIB is laudable as the poorest of the poor, who live in JJ Bastis, and particularly women can now have access to well maintained and safe toilets in their neighbourhood, he said.

The deputy chief minister said as a result, all JJ Bastis have been made open defecation free.

Free and proper shelter to the homeless people during the winter months is provided by the DUSIB through 212 night shelters.

He said a mobile application to track and rescue homeless people in Delhi has also been designed.

During winter, the control room operates 24x7 basis and can be contacted through helpline numbers, Sisodia said.