Despite Union Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken’s plea to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for stopping the demolition of the houses of slum-dwellers, 43 houses were pulled down at the Golibar slum here on Wednesday, under the supervision of the Collector’s office.

The activists of the National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) have alleged that Shivalik Ventures, which develops the prime property of 125 acres called Golibar, carried out the demolition in connivance with government officials.

JAMMU: Minister for Urban Development and Urban Local Bodies, Nawang Rigzin Jora today informed the Lower House that Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) has sanctioned two housing schemes for houseless families of slum areas for providing dwelling units and allied infrastructure facilities under LNNURM.

Replying to a question by Prof. Gharu Ram Bhagat, the Minister said that under Basic Services to Urban Poor for Mission Cities of Jammu and Srinagar five projects three for Jammu and two for Srinagar have been sanctioned and are under implementation.

To bring down the approval time for real estate projects in the country, the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation is planning to set up a system of single-window clearances for develop

New Delhi: Nearly one in every six urban Indian residents lives in a slum, newly released Census data shows.

Life in a slum is comparable to life in most urban households in India, according to Census 2011 data on living conditions in slums.

To assess the urban poverty alleviation work being done at the slum level, minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation Ajay Maken on Thursday said his ministry will frame "Slum Upgradation Index" city wise and state wise for monitoring the upgradation of slums in the country periodically.

“A committee will be set up to suggest the methodology for drafting this index. This slum data will help in redrawing our schemes and fix priorities under various schemes of the ministry,” Maken said while speaking at a function of release of report on housing stock, amenities and assets in slums based on House Listing and Housing Census 2011.

Though they have most basic amenities, sanitation is missing

Slum residents have better access to drinking water and electricity than their counterparts in the urban non-slum areas, claims a report on ‘Housing Stock, Amenities and Assets in Slums’ released here on Thursday. The report also says the number of slums in the country has declined. The first-of-its-kind survey, based on Houselisting and Housing Census 2011 conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, has revealed that slum residents have most basic amenities like drinking water and electricity and even facilities like mobile phones, internet and private vehicles: the only service missing is sanitation.

In a move that may bring relief to developers, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has decided to keep commercial offices and shops/malls out of the purview of the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill.

The Bill, in the making for about five years now, will only regulate the housing sector, said a senior ministry official. The current draft Bill mandates developers to keep aside about 70 per cent of the collected amount from buyers in a separate account. The ministry may lower the limit to 50 per cent or make it construction-linked.

It will be sent to the Union Cabinet for approval soon

Property developers will no longer be able to lure buyers with advertisements making tall claims and with blown-up pictures of fancy living spaces. In fact they will no longer be able to publicise their projects unless they have all the requisite permissions for construction, the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill-2011 has proposed. The Bill, which will be sent to the Union Cabinet for approval soon by the Union Ministry of Housing & Poverty Alleviation, has spelt out the specifics that will have to be followed by the construction industry.