Guj govt to build 1.20 lakh houses for poor

Gujarat Government today announced in the state Assembly that over 1.20 lakh houses would be built for the poor and home-less people in the state by the end of this year.
"By the end of this year, our government will build 1,20,698 houses under Sardar Patel Housing Scheme for the poor and homeless people," said Panchayat, Rural Housing and Rural Development Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama today.
He was addressing the house during the discussion on the budgetary demands for the year 2013-14 for his department.
The minister further said that the government had initiated a state-wide survey of the slums and mud-houses, which he assured, would be completed by the end of this month and then government would start converting those slums and mud-houses into built-houses.

For the year 2013-14, the state has allocated Rs 1,650 crore for rural housing, of which Rs 1,062 crore has been earmarked for providing regular houses to BPL families in the state.
"To discourage political and ideological divide at the village level, the BJP government has floated the idea of 'Samras' (uncontested) village panchayats and till today there were 10,793 village panchayats has been declared 'Samras' in the state out of which 362 were women-only panchayats," he claimed.
Gujarat Assembly today passed the budgetary demands of the Food and Civil Supplies, Panchayat, Rural Housing Development and Rural Developments with majority voice vote after rejecting the cut motions presented by the opposition Congress members.