Saturday, June 1, 2013

Eastern Regional Workshop on Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation

Last Wednesday, Mr Arun Misra, Secretary Govt of India Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) held a regional workshop in Kolkata where representatives of Assam, Orissa, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh were present besides West Bengal.

A copy of the recommendations of the Task Force on Affordable Housing Projects was released. We were informed that the Govt of India had accepted the recommendations. Incidentally, I was one of the members of this Task Force. It makes practical ways in which the centre and the states can come together to combat the housing shortage for the EWS, LIG an MIG sectors.

In our submission, I stated that while we had completed 74,000 dwelling units under JnNURM - the highest in the region - we could do more if we were allowed to revise the project cost to prevailing market prices. Secretary replied that Finance Ministry was not agreeable to this as the projects were already sanctioned. I also requested for permission to change location of units due to land problems: specific proposals were sought for.

Here is a picture of the head table:
L-R:
Me, Sushil Kumar Addl Secy, AKMisra, Secy, BKAgarwal JS, Advisor Plg Comm
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Yesterday, the work of Ganga Water project actually started on the ground. A photo on VIP Road near Lake Town Crossing:
Ground Breaks for Hugly Water Intake for New Town,
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Here is a clipping from the Telegraph that came to my notice recently although Ms Sucheta Chakraborty had met me a Hidco Bhavan a few days ago from the date of publication:

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