Gaur unhappy with progress of construction of houses for the poor in small and medium cities

Bhopal:Monday, June 15, 2009:Urban Administration and Development Minister Shri Babulal Gaur has expressed unhappiness over progress of scheme to provide houses of urban poor in 37 small and medium cities under Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP). He has instructed to make the State Urban Development Agency more effective by getting it registered under Companies Act. He said that vigilance squad will be constituted for keeping an eye on the expenditure of civic bodies and checking irregularities.

Urban Administration and Development Minister Shri Gaur gave these instructions during a review meeting of State Urban Development Agency (SUDA) at the Mantralaya here today. It was the first meeting of SUDA after 2005 while there is a provision to organise its meeting annually.

Presiding over the meeting, Shri Gaur instructed that vigilance squads should be constituted to keep an eye on civic bodies' expenses and ensure transparency. This will put a check on purchases made by civic bodies on arbitrary rates. He also instructed to empower deputy directors posted at divisional offices to undertake inspection of administrative, financial and civic bodies for effective control over these bodies. He said that only able and efficient persons should be posted as CEOs of civic bodies so that they can perform as per expectations.

Principal Secretary of Urban Administration and Development Department Shri Raghav Chandra and commissioner Shri SN Mishra threw light on the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme. They said that the programme has been implemented in 37 small and medium cities under which 18503 houses of 225 square feet will be constructed for the poor. The Union government has fixed Rs one lakh as the cost of every house which was Rs 80 thousand earlier. Due to this low cost some problems have also cropped up. The contractors have quoted Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 2 lakh as the cost of each house. Shri Gaur said that he will talk to the Union Urban Development Minister on this issue after writing a letter to him.

Shri Guar was unhappy that the collectors of the selected cities have not published the list of beneficiaries of this scheme even after two years. This scheme is under implementation in 37 small and medium cities of Bhopal, Vidisha, Rajgarh, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Indore, Damoh, Balaghat, Katni, Khandwa, Dewas, Barwani, Jhabua, Hoshangabad, Raisen, Tikamgarh, Burhanpur, Ratlam and Chhindwara districts. The meeting was informed that Ganjbasoda in Vidisha district is the only municipality where 24 out of 60 houses have been constructed.

The meeting was informed that Rs 53.53 crore will be provided under Swarna Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana to urban poor to start self-employment. Under the scheme, beneficiaries will be entitled to avail loans up to Rs 2 lakh each.

 

--
By :  News Team