PM assesses preparations towards “Housing For All”

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
10-September, 2018 11:47 IST
A New ERA of Transparency & Accountability in Real Estate – 2 Years of Implementation -Shri Hardeep Puri Inaugurates “First Regional Workshop on RERA

Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 (Rera) has Changed Real Estate Sector for Ever: Shri Hardeep Puri Says, Bringing Discipline in the Real Estate Sector was one of the Core Objectives of this Landmark Legislation

The Union Minister of State(I/C) Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri has said that the NDA government at the centre is committed to provide positive solution to the problems of home buyers, so that they get their home as soon as possible. He was delivering the inaugural address at the “First Regional Workshop on RERA – a New Era of Transparency and Accountability in Real Estate – 2 years of implementation and way forward (Western Region)” in Pune today. During his address, the Minister pointed out that the country had no regulator for the real estate sector for nearly 70 years after it gained independence, and said that the year 2016 will reveal that year to be a seminal one as that was the year when the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 was enacted by the NDA Government under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. Various stakeholders associated with the Real Estate Sector i.e. Developers, Home Buyers, Financial Institutions along with the Chairpersons and senior officers of Authorities, Tribunals and State Government officials from the western part of India attended the workshop.



Addressing the participants, the minister stated that the year 2016 changed the real estate sector forever and defined the dawn of the post RERA era. RERA is characterized by trust, rules, regulations and regulatory oversight as opposed to the pre-2016 period which essentially was one of mistrust, fraud, cheating and broken promises, he said and asserted that “the plight of the homebuyers who were at the mercy of the developers and bringing discipline in the Real Estate Sector was one of the core objectives of this landmark legislation”. “Had RERA been in place, say, 20 or even 10 years ago, consumers would not have had to knock on the doors of the judiciary, as the stringent provisions of RERA would have ensured an eco-system that would have prevented the entry of ‘fly by night’ operators, he further said and added that, “we now have a Government that believes in bold and radical reforms”. Which is determined to bring about a change in the lives of the honest tax payer. “We will and are urging, encouraging and persuading the States to set up the regulatory apparatus envisioned under RERA, speedily”, he further said.

Shri Puri said, the Real Estate Act fills the existing gap between the Development/Municipal laws and the Apartment Ownership Act, and is intended to regulate transactions (buying and selling) and enforcement of contracts and added that the Act upholds the spirit of federalism by allowing the States to set up the Regulatory Authority and the Appellate Tribunal and the role of the Central Government is limited to Union Territories without legislature. He emphasised that the Act attempts to balance the interests of the consumers and the developers by imposing clear responsibilities on both, seeks to establish symmetry of information between the promoter and the purchaser; transparency of contractual conditions; set minimum standards of accountability; and a fast-track dispute resolution mechanism. He pointed out that the Act is aimed at consumer protection, by creating an online system for information sharing so that there is mutual trust between the developer and the buyers, and projects are implemented in time. He also outlined various benefits and advantages that RERA has brought about in its wake.

Stating that the Indian real estate sector has witnessed transformative reforms in the last few years, Shri Puri said, “according to CREDAI-JLL report, the contribution of housing sector to the Indian GDP is expected to be 11 percent by 2020, up from current 5 to 6%" the Indian real estate market is expected to touch USD 180 billion by 2020 and USD 350 billion by 2027 – where the products will be more structured and pre-planned”.

Outlining the progress since the enactment of the RERA, Shri Puri said, “28 States / UTs have notified the rules under RERA, except Jammu & Kashmir; 6 North Eastern States (because of land issues) and West Bengal. All these States have also set up Authorities (Regular – 12, Interim – 16); 20 States / UTs have set up the Real Estate Appellate Tribunals so far; total 21 States/ UTs have set up web-portal by giving facility of online registration; and so far 31,475 Real Estate Projects and 24,000 Real Estate Agents have been registered under RERA across the country”.

Speaking about Western region, the Minister pointed out that “Maharashtra is one of the first states to implement the provision of RERA and establish the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of Maharashtra, which is popularly known as MahaRERA. MahaRERA is taking big (Maha) initiatives such as 1st state in India to initiate the conciliation mechanism, by way of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to redress the issue of aggrieved home buyers and look forward to an early and amicable resolution of their disputes with their developers in Maharashtra. Maharashtra has the highest number of Projects (17,567) and Real Estate Agents (16,045) registered with Authority – higher than anuy other authority”.

He said, “Madhya Pradesh is fully RERA compliant state, which has established Regular Authority, Tribunal and have fully functional web-portal to enable the registration of project and Agents”, and added that “recently, Gujrat has also established its regular Authority and others (Rajasthan and Goa) are on their way to implement RERA in their states.

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Ministry of Rural Development
10-September, 2018 15:52 IST
228 National Awards will be given for outstanding works in RD schemes tomorrow

Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to present the awards

Ministry of Rural Development implements various flagship programmes – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (MGNREGS) to provide wage employment and asset creation, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) for rural housing, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for rural roads, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) for rural livelihoods, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU GKY) for skill development of rural youth, National Rurban Mission (NRuM) etc. – all aimed at poverty alleviation.

To recognize the outstanding works carried out by the States, Districts, Blocks, organizations and Individuals in implementation of various Programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development in 2017-18 and to instill healthy competition among them for better implementation and performance in future, the Ministry of Rural Development is organizing a National Awards Function on 11thSeptember, 2018 to be given by Union Minister for Rural Development, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.

During the year 2017-18 the number of rural houses constructed is 44.54 lakh, out of which the highest number of PMAY-G houses were constructed in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The state of Madhya Pradesh not only constructed the maximum length of PMGSY roads but also the maximum road length using green technology during the year 2017-18. West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh are the best performers under the category convergence and livelihood augmentation in MGNREGS during the year 2017-18 while Mizoram State has maximum percentage of work completion against the targeted works.

To promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of government, and reach out to poor households to enrol them in 7 flagship progammes – Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (for LPG connection), Saubhagya Yojana (electricity connection), Ujala Yojana (for distribution of LED bulbs), opening of bank accounts (PM Jan DhanYojana – PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana – PMSBY (life insurance cover), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana – PMJJBY (for accident cover), and Mission Indra-Dhanush – MI (vaccination of pregnant women and children) – Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA) from 14th April, 2018 to 5th May, 2018 (16,850 villages in 533 districts) and Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (EGSA) from 1st June, 2018 to 15th August, 2018 (48,929 villages in 117 Aspirational Districts plus identified villages / districts from West Bengal and Karnataka which could not be covered under GSA due to Panchayat and Assembly Elections respectively) were organized. Ministry of Rural Development was the Nodal Ministry for both GSA and EGSA and to recognize the efforts of officials of the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Panchayati Raj in the management and implementation of both GSA and EGSA awards would also be presented to them.

In the National Awards function of the Ministry of Rural Development on 11th September, 2018 a total of 228 awards would be presented under different categories to the States, Districts, Blocks, Organizations andIndividuals.

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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
11-September, 2018 16:51 IST
Divyang-Friendly Measures need to be Integrated at Planning Stage for Ensuring Inclusive Growth in Smart Cities in India: Hardeep Puri

feedback Emanating from such Stakeholders’ Interactions to be sent to Smart Cities for Incorporating in their Plans to make these Projects all Inclusive

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs ( I/C), has stressed on the need for integrating divyang-friendly measures in various projects being implemented in the Smart Cities in India. This, he said, is required at the initial project planning stage to ensure that cities become divyang-friendly, accessible and inclusive. He was speaking at an interactive session on “Divyang Friendly Measures and Policy Recommendations for Smart Cities in India” here today. He said that in conjunction with the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), the Smart Cities Mission seeks to ensure that the most vulnerable sections of our society enjoy ‘Ease of Living’ in Indian cities. The workshop, organised by the National Institute of Urban Affairs, had participation from divyang persons from different walks of life and eminent citizens and experts, including several international sports personalities.

Addressing the participants, Shri Puri said that the feedback emanating from such stakeholders’ interactions will be sent to the CEOs and project managers of the Smart Cities to be incorporated in their plans. He said that these measures will improve the “ease of living” for those who lacked accessibility to all facilities.Lamenting that India particularly lacks data on disability, Shri Hardeep Puri said that “we will be looking at 25% of the population that will need universal accessibility in order to live independently and with dignity.” He asserted that the Disability Act of 1995 also mandated accessibility for persons with disabilities. He pointed out that the “Clause 40-48 of the VIIIth Chapter of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 also mandates making all buildings, services and products accessible giving definite timelines for implementation and retrofitting.”


The Minister was categorical in saying that “the standards exist, legislation is in place, thus we now have no reason to ignore this very urgent issue of accessibility any longer.” He outlined that according to the United Nations, a mere 1% additional cost is incurred for incorporating universal design and accessibility in the design and planning stage itself. Stating that India is at an interesting cusp, Shri Puri said that “we have the Accessible India Campaign, AMRUT, HRIDAY, Swachh Bharat, Digital India and the Smart Cities Mission – and accessibility cuts across them all.”

He further said that “clarity must be maintained on the standards applicable,” and added that “NCPEDP worked closely with BIS to update the National Building Code 2016 to ensure that accessibility cuts across all chapters and section.” Shri Puri said that accessibility also makes for a business case, adding that tourism-based cities are likely to face an opportunity loss of an estimated 15-20% of the global market share if they exclude tourists with disabilities. “Leaving people with disabilities out of economic opportunities leads to a loss of 3-7%of GDP annually,” he added.

Shri Hardeep Puri also said that accessibility needs to be looked at beyond the built infrastructure alone. He said, “with a growing digital interface, technology must be made accessible too – municipal apps, bus shelters, kiosks, red light junctions, ATMs, all need to be made accessible for people with disabilities. Signage captioning is important for the deaf and hearing-impaired. Products that we use must be accessible- e.g. low floor buses, lifts and elevators that announce the floor reached for people with visual disabilities, etc.”

The Smart Cities Mission adopts a unique approach to urbanization, adding that at its core, the Mission promotes the access to infrastructure for all citizens and this becomes a platform to provide social justice. The Minister pointed out that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 goals and 169 targets, has given the nations of the world a very ambitious framework with the underlying theme of ‘Leave No One Behind’. “This framework is inspired by the Indian ethos of Sarvodaya through Antyodaya,” he said, stating further that people with disabilities are among the most marginalised – not because of their disability but because of an environment that is hostile insensitive and inaccessible.

The Minister elaborated on the “Article 36 of the New Urban Agenda’ which said, “We commit ourselves to promoting appropriate measures in cities and human settlements that facilitate access for persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment of cities, in particular to public spaces, public transport, housing, education and health facilities, public information and communication (including information and communications technologies and systems) and other facilities and services open or provided to the public, in both urban and rural areas.”


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The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar at the presentation of the National Awards for outstanding works in Rural Development schemes, in New Delhi on September 11, 2018. The Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri Ram Kripal Yadav and the Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Shri Amarjeet Sinha are also seen.

The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar presenting the National Awards for outstanding works in Rural Development schemes, at a function, in New Delhi on September 11, 2018. The Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri Ram Kripal Yadav is also seen.

The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar presenting the National Awards for outstanding works in Rural Development schemes, at a function, in New Delhi on September 11, 2018. The Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri Ram Kripal Yadav and the Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Shri Amarjeet Sinha are also seen.

The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar presenting the National Awards for outstanding works in Rural Development schemes, at a function, in New Delhi on September 11, 2018. The Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri Ram Kripal Yadav and the Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Shri Amarjeet Sinha are also seen.

The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar presenting the National Awards for outstanding works in Rural Development schemes, at a function, in New Delhi on September 11, 2018. The Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri Ram Kripal Yadav and the Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Shri Amarjeet Sinha are also seen.

The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar addressing at the presentation of the National Awards for outstanding works in Rural Development schemes, in New Delhi on September 11, 2018.

The Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri Ram Kripal Yadav addressing at the presentation of the National Awards for outstanding works in Rural Development schemes, in New Delhi on September 11, 2018.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
18-September, 2018 15:59 IST
Govt Committed to Provide Enabling Environment to Street Vendors by Taking up with States to Notify Rules & Schemes for its Implementation: Hardeep Puri

Day-Nulm Addresses Livelihood Concerns of Urban Street Vendors by Facilitating Access to Suitable Spaces, Institutional Credit, Social Security & Skills for Accessing Emerging Market Opportunities

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (I/C), has stated that his Ministry iscommitted to provide enabling environment to the street vendors by taking up with the states to notify Rules and Schemes under the Act thus paving way for its implementation. Addressing the National Convention of NASVI (National Association of Street Vendors of India here today, the Housing and Urban Affairs Minister informed that hisministry is implementing the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM) with seven components which is being implemented in the statutory towns of the country. The DAY-NULM aims to reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households and enables them to access gainful self- employment and skilled wage employment opportunities. Sh Arbind Singh, National Coordinator of NASVI, Sh Sanjay Kumar, Joint secretary and Mission Director, DAY-NULM and participants from all over the country were present at the function.

Observing that most of the vendors involved in informal sector activities earlier faced a constant threat of eviction, removal, confiscation of goods and almost non-existent social security cover, Sh Puri informed that, to address these very issues and to promote pro-vending town planning, the parliament passed the landmark Act i.e. the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street vending) Act 2014. The Act provided for regulating street vending, certification of vending, harassment against unlawful eviction, rights and obligations of street vendors. It also provided protection to the natural markets.The Act lays down an important role to Town Vending committees in the governance of provisions relating to protection of rights of street vendors. In the composition of Town Vending committees, street vendors’ representatives will be not less than 40% of the total strength of the Committee. Under the Act, respective states/ UTs have to notify Rules and Schemes for ensuring its implementation. So far 30 states/ UTs have notified their respective Rules and 21 States have notified their respective Schemes.

Sh Puri further informed that the DAY-NULM addresses livelihood concerns of the urban street vendors by facilitating access to suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and skills to the urban street vendors for accessing emerging market opportunities. Taking in account the importance of street vendors in the urban space, DAY-NULM has included Support to Urban Street Vendors as one of its components.

Considering the importance of Street vending which has a prominent place in the urban supply chain by providing inexpensive and convenient access to goods and services to all segments of the population, up to 5% of the allocations under the Mission can be spent by State/ ULB for creation of infrastructure for street vendors. Apart from the benefits under the Street Vendors component, street vendors can also take advantage of other components under the Mission.One such advantage is that Street vendors can access skill training under Skill Training programme of DAY-NULM.They can also take concessional loans @ 7% interest for setting up and expanding self-employment enterprises under Self-Employment Programme of DAY-NULM.There may be some street vendors who are homeless. Such persons can stay in the nearby shelter homes being run with the assistance of DAY-NULM.The female and handicapped street vendors can also form Self-Help Groups and take advantages under the Mission by accessing revolving fund and bank linkage loans and forming part of SHG federations.

Appreciating the support of voluntary organizations like NASVI in creating supportive environment for street vendors to carry out their livelihood activity, Sh Puri observed that efforts made towards securing livelihood of street vendors through policy interventions, advocacy for changes in political- legal environment, dialogues with policy makers, administrators and planners, providing legal aids, capacity building of street vendor and sensitizing society about the issues of street vendors will help in providing an effective voice to the street vendors.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
22-September, 2018 12:49 IST
Plogging Should be a Way of Life: Durga Shankar Mishra

Housing Ministry Officials Undertakes Plogging In Delhi

In an early morning initiative for making our cities clean and motivate people to adopt Swachhta as a way of life, more than 300 officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, NDMC, NBCC, CPWD, HPL and other entities under the Ministry took part in a plogging exercise here today. More than 2 hours long exercise was led by Sh Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, M/O Housing and Urban affairs which started from Janpath market area and culminated near Shastri Bhawan, also motivated scores of bystanders, onlookers, taxi drivers, vendors and morning walkers to join in this unique exercise.

More than 500 filled packets of garbage including broken bottles, ice cream and gutkha wrappers, cups, packets, etc were collected as part of the exercise. Sh Mishra used the opportunity to also talk to the people who gathered on adopting Plogging as a way of exercise and suggested that it can be undertaken as a way of routine to ensure a clean and garbage free city. The event was organised as part of Prime Ministers initiative of “Swachhata Hi Sewa” by the Ministry today. Several members of the NGO, CFAR also participated in the event.

Sh. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary - MoHUA, encouraged everyone to take up plogging as a regular initiative. He said that picking up the litter should be carried out simultaneously with walking or jogging. “Self-littering should not be done and all the waste and litter should always be thrown in a dustbin nearby.” he added. Sh. Mishra also encouraged several shopkeepers on the way to take responsibility for throwing the waste in garbage bins only.

Enthused by the tremendous response, it has been decided that the next plogging drive will be carried out on 30th September, 2018 from Nehru Park, Chankyapuri to Yashwant place in New Delhi. About 300 students from Sharda Vakil School of Art and National Centre for Arts will also be roped in as volunteers on the occasion.

The Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra participating in cleanliness drive, as part of the “Swachhata Hi Seva” Abhiyan, in New Delhi on September 22, 2018.

The Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra participating in cleanliness drive, as part of the “Swachhata Hi Seva” Abhiyan, in New Delhi on September 22, 2018.

The Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra addressing at the cleanliness drive, as part of the “Swachhata Hi Seva” Abhiyan, in New Delhi on September 22, 2018.

 

[Hindustani78]

The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (I/C), Shri Hardeep Singh Puri presenting the certificates at the inauguration of a National Dissemination Workshop on Ease of Living Index 2018, in New Delhi on September 24, 2018. The Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra is also seen.

The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (I/C), Shri Hardeep Singh Puri presenting the certificates at the inauguration of a National Dissemination Workshop on Ease of Living Index 2018, in New Delhi on September 24, 2018. The Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra is also seen.

The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (I/C), Shri Hardeep Singh Puri addressing at the inauguration of a National Dissemination Workshop on Ease of Living Index 2018, in New Delhi on September 24, 2018.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
24-September, 2018 15:51 IST
High Level Committee recommends completion of homes in the stalled projects of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway

Recommendations to help completion of the projects & deliver possession to home buyers at the earliest at the cost already conveyed to them by the developers/builders

A High-Level Committee of the Uttar Pradesh government has come out with recommendations aimed at providing solution to the completion of homes in the stalled projects of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway. The Committee was constituted by the State government vide order dated 18th June, 2018 under the chairpersonship of Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in order to address the issues of home buyers and affected parties of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway. The mandate of the Committee was to identify the problems and to make clear recommendations to solve the issues raised by homebuyers. The committee held deliberations with all the stakeholders Home Buyers Association, Developers & their Association, Bankers, concerned administrative Authorities etc. before finalization its report.

It is being noticed that on various social media platforms the recommendations of the Report have not been clearly understood and it has been alleged that it favors the developers/builders.

In this regard, it is important to note that main problem of home buyers of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway is that of the ‘stalled projects’ and the only relief for home buyers is to ‘get these completed and give possession of their booked home’ as early as possible. Therefore, each recommendation has been made keeping the interest of home buyers only. The Committee has made a total of 10 recommendations.

Ø It is evident that the main reason of the stalled projects is the ‘lack of fund’ and ‘non-availability of last mile funding’, therefore the Committee’s first recommendation pertains to RBI for issuing guidelines to enable Banks to fund this gap. It will help home buyers to get their homes.

Ø Presently, nobody wants to put the money in stalled projects as there is no guarantee of the return on their investment. Second recommendation of the Committee pertains to Last-In First-Out (LIFO) model for execution of Stress Fund to ensure the confidence of investor to put its money in order to complete the stalled projects, as it will also help home buyers to get their homes.

Ø Third recommendation was related to introduction of Project Settlement Policy (PSP) by State Government of Uttar Pradesh with certain modifications. It is important to know that PSP was launched earlier by the Authorities but no developer availed the same. Now, the situation is more critical than before, therefore PSP for fixed 6 months’ period has been recommended, wherein the developer has to give a written undertaking to complete the projects within 3 years, otherwise the benefits of PSP shall be taken back and all the dues shall be recovered from developer by the concern Authority. This would ensure that the PSP helps in completion of the stalled projects and its benefits not misused by the developers. The provision to introduce co-developers to complete the stalled projects is to ensure early completion of the projects to help home buyers only.

Ø Fourth recommendation to avoid multiple sale of single property, the “Agreement to Sale” to be registered in the office of concern Sub-registrar with nominal registration fee will ultimately secure the interest of Home Buyers.

Ø Fifth recommendation is related to establishment of one Real Estate Regulatory Authority in Noida or Greater Noida, to readdress the issue of home-buyers of the Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and nearby area on a regular basis.

Ø Sixth recommendation is to permit the affected home buyers to get the title deed registered on stamp duty at the rate prevailing at the time of committed date of the completion of the project by the developer. It will give huge monetary benefits to each affected individual home buyer.

Ø Seventh recommendation relates to policy for taking over their unused land/FAR of stalled projects by the Authorities, wherein no third-party interest has been created, is to instil a sense of discipline among the developers and penalise the defaulters.

Ø Ninth recommendations pertain to preparation of a panel Lawyers of RERA to assist the homebuyers in pursuing their cases before RERA Authorities at reasonable fees.

Ø Tenth recommendation pertaining to survey by NBCC (India) Limited of other developer’s stalled projects in Noida and Greater Noida and take up few selected viable projects upon its independent audit/survey in order to complete the same. This would directly benefit the homebuyers in the selected stalled projects.

None of the recommendations puts any additional burden on the homebuyers, rather they will smoothen completion of the projects to deliver possession to home buyers at the earliest at the cost already conveyed to them by the developers/builders.

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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
24-September, 2018 13:48 IST
AP, Odisha & Madhya Pradesh Bag Award of Three Best Performing States in “Ease of Living Index” Under Amrut

Ease of Living Index is a Transformative Initiative of the Ministry to help Cities Assess Their Liveability Vis-À-Vis National & Global Benchmarks: Hardeep Singh Puri “Ease of Living Index” -- A Move Towards an ‘Outcome-Based’ Approach to Urban Planning & Management: Shri Hardeep Puri

Andhra Pradesh has topped the charts among States in terms of “Ease of Living Index” rankings launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). It was followed by Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. The three States were awarded the three best performing States under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) at the National Dissemination Workshop on Ease of Living Index, 2018, here today. While presenting the awards to the States, the Union Minister of State (I/C)) for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri said that the Ease of Living Index is a transformative initiative of the Ministry to help the cities assess their liveability vis-à-vis national and global benchmarks. He exuded confidence that the Ease of Living Index will encourage all cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and management and promote healthy competition among cities. Sh Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary MoHUA, Sh Shiv Das Meena, Additional Secretary and Mission heads under Urban Affairs, urban planners from States and Union Territories attended the Workshop.

Addressing the participants, Sh Puri said that this exercise marked a major milestone in India’s goal to promote evidence-based planning and action towards sustainable urbanization. “The ‘Ease of Living’ Index seeks to assist cities in undertaking a 360-degree assessment of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats”, he added. It was decided in June 2017 to rank 116 cities (all smart cities and million plus cities) based on the liveability parameters. The implementation of the assessment commenced formally on 19 January 2018. The MoHUA released the first ever ‘Ease of Living Index’ covering 111 Indian cities on 13 August, 2018, which serves as a litmus test to help assess the progress made in cities through various initiatives. All cities were evaluated out of 100. The 'physical' pillar (infrastructure) was given the highest weightage of 45, while institutional (governance) and social were weighted 25 each. Economy was weighted 5.

Shri Hardeep Puri pointed out that Ease of Living framework comprised four pillars namely Institutional, Social, Economic and Physical which are further broken down into 78 indicators across 15 categories (governance, identity and culture, education, health, safety and security, economy, affordable housing, land use planning, public open spaces, transportation and mobility, assured water supply, waste-water management, solid waste management, power, and quality of environment). “Another highlight of the Ease of Living assessment standards is its close linkage with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of the 17 SDG goals, 8 goals are directly linked to India’s ease of living assessment framework with SDG 11” he said.

The Minister highlighted that SDG 11 is aimed at making our cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and is measured through a set of 30 indicators. He said, “the ease of living index provides a strong impetus to India’s effort for systematically tracking the progress of SDGs in the urban areas.”

Elaborating on the importance of having a relook at the whole exercise undertaken which led to the final scores and ranking, Shri Hardeep Puri said, “the assessment was launched at the national level with a National Orientation Workshop to orient city officials on assessment framework. It was followed by 33 state level workshops spread across all 26 states and Union Territories to introduce and explain the framework to all stakeholders. Over 1500 officials participated across all workshops.” Shri Puri also pointed out that besides collecting data on a range of metrics to evaluate performance of the city administration, the exercise spread over four months also collected feedback from over 60,000 citizens to measure satisfaction on urban services. The first round of Ease of Living covered 111 cities. Gurugram was subsequently included in the assessment. Four cities of West Bengal – Howrah, New Town Kolkata, Kolkata and Durgapur did not participate and Naya Raipur of Chhattisgarh and Amravati of Andhra Pradesh did not fulfil the parameters as they are green-field cities.

The Minister hoped that this workshop will provide an opportunity for the states and cities to offer their valuable suggestions and also go over the lessons learnt from the previous Index to ensure a more robust methodology for future. The workshop will dwell upon the approach, challenges and key learnings from the first exercise of Ease of Living Index, 2018. Shri Puri also urged all States and cities to share their inputs on ‘City GDP Framework’ so as to devise a robust GDP framework for cities.

The government hoped that the big bonus that will come with the scheme is the fact that it will lead to a healthy competition between cities, based on the rankings, and generate acute interest, comparisons, critiques and analysis by citizens.

Click here to See Chart

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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
25-September, 2018 16:19 IST
Efficient Project Management is Translating Vision into Reality: Hardeep Puri

Says, Professionalism is Essential for Project Management

Union Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri has said that urban areas in India faced multi-pronged challenges and a complex ecosystem in ensuring housing for all, technology-based solutions to enhance service delivery, better mobility and greener transport, smart governance and in doing more with less. Addressing the inaugural session of Project Managers Global Summit 2018 on "Powering India’s Breakthrough Growth: New Dimensions in Project Management" here today, he said that meeting these challenges requires efficient project management which means translating vision into reality. Shri Puri said professionalism is essential in project management and not populism saying the processes must be carried out in a transparent manner and through competitive bidding.

The Minister said that India has undertaken the "most comprehensive" planned urbanization programme in the world and stressed that India still had to build 70 per cent of the new urban infrastructure required by 2030 and this has to be green and resilient. At present, over 30 per cent of India's population, on a base of 1.2 billion, lives in urban centres, as compared to 17 per cent of the population living in urban areas at the time of India's independence in 1947. The flagship programmes being implemented by the Indian government were moving in a direction to ensure that India succeeds in the 2030 Agenda, he added and pointed out that the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or the Prime Minister's scheme on Affordable Housing for All is the world's largest housing programme for the poor under which the government aims to build 11 million affordable homes for urban Indians by the year 2022. India is in the process of creating 100 Smart Cities to strengthen urban infrastructure by applying smart solutions, he further added.

The Minister said that the Smart Cities Mission envisaged area-based interventions for developing urban areas or cities. Following citizen consultations with more than 2.4 million people, 100 cities are now implementing concepts such as smart roads, smart solid waste management, solar rooftops and smart schools, to name a few. He said, “smartness, whether of building or a city, is not something on which you have a choice. It’s an imperative with thrust on your current existence. When we talk smart cities it includes host of things—greens, sustainable infrastructure, safety for everyone, surveillance ensuring safety for women. So it is an ongoing process”.

Shri Puri said, by December 2018, you can start getting physical contours of what a smart city looks like. Different cities are in different stages of processing, tendering, he said. The Minister said, in democracy you cannot tell people where to live and nor can we stop migration, adding that we have to tackle it by creating infrastructure, adding that we have to look at urbanization as a great opportunity for economic growth.

Shri Puri pointed out that, cities were selected through a competitive process for funding under a Government of India programme, and added that the programme design was based on comprehensive citizen engagement, leveraging the power of technology at our disposal.

The Minister underlined that “new technologies and platforms will increasingly enable citizens to engage with governments, voice their opinions, coordinate their efforts and even circumvent the supervision of public authorities”. This phenomenon is embedded in the concept, design, and implementation of India’s Smart Cities Mission, he said.

He pointed out that every Smart City will have a Smart City Centre (SCC) (i.e. Integrated Command and Control Centre). The SCC functions as a city’s nervous system where digital technologies are integrated with social, physical, and environmental aspects of the city, to enable centralized monitoring and decision making. SCCs have already been set up in 11 cities. Twenty eight other cities have started work on setting up such centres.

Shri Puri said, proactively improving the urban space will require a reform of the “enabling environment”, which includes governance frameworks, policy protocols, capacities of urban local bodies, and the nature of citizen-government engagement.

On the occasion, awards for Excellence were given to NBCC and DMRC.

***

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
27-September, 2018 20:01 IST
495 Project Proposals for Construction of 2,34,879 Houses Under PMAY(U) Submitted by Uttar Pradesh approved-Total approvals more than 60 Lakh

more than 50% of Sanctioned Houses are in various stages of construction Progress of Construction being Monitored by Geo-Tagging

Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has emphasized the use of new technologies for fast tracking the construction of houses under PMAY(U). The Ministry has approved 6,28,488 houses to be constructed under PMAY(U) on 26.9.2018 across 11 States; UP (2,34,879), AP (1,40,559), M.P. (74,631), Bihar (50,017), Chhattisgarh (30,371), Gujarat (29,185), Maharashtra (22,265), Tamil Nadu (20,794), Odisha (13,421), Tripura (9,778) and Manipur (2,588). With this approval, total number of houses to be constructed under PMAY(U) now stands at 60.29 lakh.

Addressing the committee members after the above approval, Shri Mishra observed that states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Maharashtra are pioneer in using innovative technologies like Shear Wall, Pre-Cast, Monolithic etc. More than 50% of the sanctioned houses have been grounded which are presently in various stages of construction. A total of 495 project proposals for construction of 2,34,879 houses under PMAY(U) submitted by State of Uttar Pradesh have been approved by 38th CSMC on 26.9.2018 which is highest in terms of number of houses submitted by any State so far. Increasing number of proposals submitted under PPP mode for AHP & ISSR vertical reveal that participation of private sector in affordable housing sector is on rising trend. The increased participation of private sector is due to fruition of various initiatives taken by the Ministry to address the housing shortage in urban areas.

It is noteworthy that progress of construction of houses is being monitored by geo-tagging of different stages of construction. Ministry has decided to release central assistance of Rs.486.87 crores for Kerala considering the extraordinary situation due to heavy floods. Ministry has advised Government of Kerala for early submission of project proposals under PMAY(U) for flood affected households.

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Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
28-September, 2018 18:54 IST
Locate Public Toilets on Google Maps MoHUA partners with Google to launch #LooReview Campaign

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under the aegis of Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM – U), has partnered with Google to launch the Loo Review campaign to encourage all local guides in India to rate and review public toilets on Google Maps. This campaign is part of a feature which allows all citizens to locate public toilets in their cities on Google Maps, Search and the Assistant and also provide feedback on the same. 500+ cities in India with more than 30,000 toilets with the name of “SBM Toilet” are currently live on Google Maps.

One of the objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM - U) is to provide sanitation coverage through public toilet facilities across cities in India for achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. With around 3400 cities already having achieved ODF status, and other cities gearing up towards the same, there is now a need to ensure that the ODF status is sustained through continuous usage and proper maintenance of public toilets.

The joint campaign to be run throughout October and November 2018 is an effort to increase the awareness and ease of locating public toilets across India. The campaign will involve and engage Local Guides in India to rate and review public toilets on Google Maps, and use the hashtag #LooReview for the chance to be featured on Google Local Guides’ social channels. Local Guides are people who share reviews, photos, and knowledge on Google Maps to help people explore the world.

Shri DurgaShanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, said, “The Ministry has identified that there is now a need to move beyond monitoring and measuring outputs and targets for toilet construction to enhance actual usage, functionality and sustainability. The ‘Public toilets near me’ feature will benefit citizens, particularly women and senior citizens, who often find it difficult to find access to clean toilets in the public space. The feedback provide by local guides through the Loo Review campaign will press upon the Urban Local Bodies to take proactive steps to improve public toilet facilities across the country.”

Chetan Krishnaswamy, Director Public Policy, Google, said “Google is a committed partner in achieving the Government’s vision of a Swachh Bharat. ‘Public toilets near me’ is a feature that is supported across Google Maps, Search and the Assistant. In close partnership with the MoHUA, we have mapped toilets across 500 cities in India in the last year alone. Through the #LooReview campaign we are engaging our enthusiastic Local Guides community in India to further increase the awareness on public toilets in the country, and help citizens discover clean and well-maintained options in their vicinity.”

Anyone can join the Local Guides community and review places on Google Maps. To find a place to visit and review, search “Public toilet near me” on Google Maps.

Join the Local Guide community online:

Facebook - Google Local Guides

Twitter - @googlelocalguides

Youtube - Google Local Guides



For more information on the campaign, please follow the Swachh Bharat Mission’sportal and official social media properties:

Facebook Page - Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban

Twitter Handle - @SwachhBharatGov

YouTube Channel – Swachh Bharat – Urban



***

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Finance
08-October, 2018 18:16 IST
National Housing Bank (NHB decides to increase the Refinance Limit from Rs. 24,000 crore to Rs.30,000 crore for the Current Year(July 2018-June 2019) towards refinancing eligible institutions

Keeping in view the current scenario, National Housing Bank (NHB has decided to increase the Refinance limit to Rs.30,000 crore. Now, eligible Housing Finance Companies & Other entities will have increased availability of funds.

National Housing Bank had set an inital limit to sanction Rs. 24,000 crore this year (July 2018-June 2019) towards refinancing eligible institutions. Till date, Rs.8835 crore has been sanctioned. This refinancing is a credit flow to Housing Finance Companies & other Institutions.

National Housing Bank (NHB) is the Principal Agency to promote Housing Finance Institutions, currently 97 in number, and to provide financial support to eligible institutions. As a regulator, National Housing Bank regularly monitors the liquidity position of Housing Finance Companies.



*****

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
12-October, 2018 18:41 IST
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Notifies the Modified Land Pooling Policy

The Policy Applicable in the Urbanizable Areas of Urban Extensions in 95 Villages of Delhi.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs vide Notification S.O. 5220(E) dated 11.10.2018, has notified the modified land policy. The policy would be applicable in the urbanizable areas of urban extensions in 95 villages of Delhi. The policy replaces the earlier policy notified in the year 2013. It aims at developing smart and sustainable neighborhoods, sectors and zones, planned and executed as per the availability of water, power and other infrastructure.

The core of the policy is active role of private sector and farmers also involved in assembling land and developing physical and social infrastructure. Owners or group of owners can pool land parcels for development as per prescribed norms. Land Parcels of any size can participate under the policy. However, the minimum land to be pooled is 2 hectares to ensure adequate return of land for development and form a Developer Entity. DDA will now play the role of a facilitator and the process of planning, pooling and development will be taken up by Developer Entities/ Consortiums.

For smooth planning and development of infrastructure, integrated Sector-based planning approach shall be followed. A minimum of 70% contiguous land of the developable area within a sector, free of encumbrances is required to be pooled to make the sectors eligible for development under the Policy.

Considering the availability of resources and services an FAR of 200 is allowed for group housing/residential use under the policy. DDA has estimated that it is expected to generate about 17 Lakh Dwelling units out of which around 5 lakh Dwelling units will be available under EWS category, to house about 76 lakh persons.

Differential land return in two categories as per the earlier policy has been replaced with uniform division of land on 60:40 basis in the modified Policy. The Consortium will retain 60% of pooled land and hold the remaining 40% on behalf of DDA. Consortium can utilize 60% of pooled land for development of residential, commercial, public and semi-public facilities as per the policy and MPD-2021 provisions. The remaining 40% of the pooled land is to be surrendered, free of encumbrances, as and when required to DDA/service providing agencies to undertake developmental work. To keep pace with new forms of development, provision for achieving a vertical mix of uses (residential, commercial, public and semi-public) at building level is introduced. Additional Development Controls have been introduced to regulate building and infrastructure aspects of developments.

External Development Charges (EDC) shall be payable on entire area of pooled land in installments to cover the cost of providing city level infrastructure.

In order to promote affordable and inclusive housing, FAR of 15% over and above maximum permissible residential FAR has also been allowed for EWS/ affordable housing.

A Single Window System is being created for implementation of policy in DDA. All processes of receiving applications, verifications, grant of approvals and licenses, etc. shall be online and will be completed in a time bound manner. A two-stage Grievance Redressal Mechanism within DDA has been introduced for clear operationalization and implementation of the policy.

***

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
15-October, 2018 17:30 IST
Skywalk & FOB at ‘W’ Point, ITO Inaugurated

Project to Reduce Traffic Congestion & Improve Traffic Flow in Delhi Project Was Put on Fast Track with Additional Central Govt Funding in View of Non-Receipt of Balance Funding of 20% From Delhi Govt

Shri Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, today inaugurated and dedicated to people of Delhi a skywalk and FOB at the junction of Sikandra Road, Mathura Road, Tilak Marg and Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg at ‘W’ point near Hans Bhavan. Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Shri Anil Baijal, Member of Parliament Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Secretary MoHUA Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Chairman, NDMC Shri Naresh Kumar, Vice-Chairman, DDA, Shri Tarun Kapur and other officials were present on the occasion.



The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had, as part of the decongestion plan of Delhi roads, sanctioned an amount of Rs. 54.84 Cr. under UDF to decongest ‘W’ Point and provide easy and safe passage to pedestrian by way of providing a Skywalk at this junction.



The ITO Crossing and ‘W’ Point Junction are the two busiest crossings as far as pedestrian traffic is concerned. There are over 25 major offices and other institutions located in this area. Approximately 30,000 pedestrian cross various roads around ITO Crossing and ‘W’ Point.



A large network of public utilities has been constructed to connect all the sides of various roads (Tilak Marg, Sikandra Road, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg & Mathura Road) with Pragati Maidan Metro Station. The Foot Over Bridge (FOB) at Hans Bhawan has also been constructed to provide easy and safe movement to the pedestrians. The Skywalk with a length of 400m has a width of 5m and length of Loop and Ramp is 130m having width of 3m. The length of FOB at Hans Bhawan is 54m having width of 5m.



The Skywalk and FOB has been constructed in Steel Structure. The Granite Flooring and Stainless Steel Railing has been provided. The structure has Tensile Fabric roofing. The Skywalk shall have 6 passenger lift of 20 persons capacity and one lift of 16 person capacity. Solar PV modules, Wi-Fi, CCTV has been provided in Skywalk and FOB. The LED fittings for functional and architectural lighting have also been provided. The entire Skywalk has been covered under CCTV surveillance. A police booth has also been constructed under the Skywalk for constant surveillance in the area. Public convenience has been provided at Mathura Road and near Hans Bhawan. Seven Glass lifts have been provided for pedestrian to ascend and descend, besides stair cases. There is enough space at ground floor at various locations which can be used for commercial purposes. Matching design has been adopted for the Foot Over Bridge constructed near Hans Bhawan.



Apart from the sky walk, the Central Government has taken several landmark decisions to make the lives of Delhiites more comfortable. One of the areas in which Delhiites suffer is the tremendous traffic congestion affecting efficient mobility.



In the year 2016, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had issued sanction for funding of six projects worth Rs. 1826.40 crore under the Urban Development Fund of Rs 1382.77 crore which aim at reducing traffic congestion and improve traffic flow in Delhi. On a review undertaken in October 2017 in the Ministry in view of the slow progress in these projects, it was decided that the projects where balance funding of 20% of the project cost was not forthcoming from Delhi government, the same may be funded by the DDA/ITPO i.e., 100% funding by the Central Government.



All the above projects then were put on a fast track and have achieved substantial progress during the last one year.

Brief Specifications of Skywalk and FOB:

Sl.No.

Name
Length
Width

1

Skywalk at ‘W’ Point
485 m
5.0 m

2

Ramp & Loop
130 m
3.0 m

3

FOB at Hans Bhawan
54 m
5.0 m



***

RJ/KGS

Ministry of Power
15-October, 2018 17:16 IST
Shri RK Singh launches award scheme under 'Saubhagya'

More than 1.65 Crore households connected since the launch ofSaubhagya

Shri RK Singh, Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy announced an award scheme under Saubhagya here today to felicitate the DISCOMs / Power Department of the States and their employees for achieving 100 per cent household electrification in their area of operations. Awards would be provided for achieving 100 per cent household electrification at DISCOM/Power Department level of the States. Eight States which have already achieved more than 99 per cent household electrification prior to launch of Saubhagya (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu), are ineligible for participation under the award scheme. All the remaining States and their Discoms are eligible for the award.

Award will be given in three categories, (i) DISCOMs / Power Departments of Special Category States (which includes seven North Eastern States, Sikkim, J&K and Uttarakhand); (ii) DISCOMs / Power Departments of other than Special Category States (which includes Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal)having more than 5 Lakh un-electrified households and (iii) DISCOMs / Power Departments of other than Special Category States having less than 5 Lakh un-electrified households.

There will be two quantum of award in each of the three categories. Under first quantum of award, the 1stDISCOM / Power Department to achieve 100per cent household electrification by30th November 2018 would be provided cash award of Rs. 50 Lakh. The Principal Secretary (Energy/Power) of the State will devise the mechanism to distribute this cash prize amongst employees of the concerned DISCOM / Power Department. From this amount, Rs. 20 Lakh will be given to the division of DISCOM/Power Department with highest number of households electrified. Certificate of appreciation would also be given to five officials of concerned DISCOM/Power Department of any level from managing Director to Lineman to be nominated by the Principal Secretary (Energy / Power) of the States. The second quantum of awardincludes cash award of Rs. 100 Crore as grant to the concerned DISCOM/Power Department to be spent in distribution infrastructure development in their area of operation. The Principal Secretary (Energy/Power) of the State will decide work to be executed from this amount.

Other DISCOM/Power Department of the States to achieve 100% household electrification by 31st December 2018 would also be provided certificate of appreciation for five officials of any level from managing Director to Lineman to be nominated by the Principal Secretary (Energy / Power) of the States.

Government of India launched ‘PradhanMantriSahajBijliHarGharYojana’ (Saubhagya) in Sept. 2017 to achieve the goal of universal household electrification in the country by 31st March 2019. The scheme envisages to provide last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining households in rural as well as urban areas. With the support of State Power Departments and DISCOMs more than 1.65 Crore households have already been connected since the launch of scheme. All the States have shown confidence in achievement of the target much before the targeted timelines.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
16-October, 2018 17:53 IST
Eco-Friendly Green & Energy Efficient Features to be Used in Construction for 120 Type-VII Flats in Pocket-I at DDU Marg, New Delhi-- Hardeep Puri Lays Foundation Stone

Grade Separator at Rani Jhansi Road Also Inaugurated--Project to Ensure Easier Movement of Traffic & Reduction in Commuting Time

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs(I/C) has appreciated the Engineers involved in the construction project of 120 General Pool Residential Type-VII Flats for overcoming the engineering complexities and the plan to use Eco friendly Green and energy Efficient features in this project. The project is to be executed by Central Public Works Department at Pocket-I, DDU Marg, New Delhi. While addressing those present after he laid the foundation stone of the project here today, Shri Puri said he was happy to note that 15,000 sq. meters of area developed is green with provision for rain harvesting. Care has been taken to provide enough parking spaces, public amenities like community toilets, etc. Noting that all the projects put on a fast track by the Ministry have achieved substantial progress, he said, “we are determined to complete other projects as well.” Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, MP presided over the function.

The Proposed 120 Type-VII multi storeyed flats shall be constructed in a plot area of 26,500 sqm. There shall be four ‘State of the Art’ Towers - two towers shall be 13 storeyed and remaining two towers 17 storeyed with basements and stilt for parking. The project costing Rs. 197 crores shall be completed within a period of 21 months by June 2020. On site solar power units shall be installed on roof top with capacity of 300 KW. The campus would have provisions of sewage treatment plant for recycling waste water, rain water harvesting, and de-composter for handling of waste material. These flats shall be a magnificent blend of Architecture and Engineering.

Another project of Grade Separator at Rani Jhansi Road to improve mobility for the citizens of Delhi was opened for public use in the presence of the Minister earlier in the day. The project will ensure easier movement of traffic and reduction in the commuting time. The Minister had inaugurated the Sky Walk and Foot Over Bridge at ITO yesterday as one more initiative for ease of living for Delhi citizens.

Mentioning the initiatives of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry in making life easier and reducing various bottlenecks, he outlined several projects funded by his ministry which have either been completed or are at an advanced stage of completion. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had issued sanction for funding of following six projects worth Rs. 1,826.40 crore under the Urban Development Fund, which aimed at reducing traffic congestion, pollution and accidents, and improve traffic flow in Delhi.

i) Construction of skywalk and FOB at the Junction of Sikandra Road, Mathura Road, Tilak Marg and Bahadur Shah Marg at ‘W’ Point near Hans Bhawan.

ii) Construction of Grade Separator at Rani Jhansi Road.

iii) Construction of flyover passes between Northern Mahipalpur by pass road and Airport road near Hanuman Mandir, New Delhi.

iv) Construction of Flyover-cum-ROB on UER-I at Narela.

v) Construction of Integrated Transit Corridor Development Plan along Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg, Mahatma Gandhi Marg and connecting Mathura Road to Mahatma Gandhi Marg via Underground Tunnel below Pragati Maidan.

vi) Road corridor improvement of Ring Road from ISBT Kashmiri Gate to Shalimar Bypass including construction of up-ramp for U-turn to join with existing elevated loop at ISBT Kashmiri Gate, widening of road by shifting entry/exit subway near Nigam Bodh Ghat.

Shri Hardeep Puri said that in view of slow progress in these projects, it was decided in October 2017 by the Ministry inter-alia, that the projects where balance funding of the project cost was not forthcoming from Delhi government, the same may be funded by the DDA/ITPO i.e., 100% funding by the Central Government and implementing agencies be changed to CPWD except in Skywalk project where PWD had called for tender. Accordingly, for four projects relating to (i) Construction of Skywalk (ii) Construction of flyover at Mahipalpur (iii) Road Corridor improvement at ISBT and (iv) Integrated Transit Corridor Development at Pragati Maidan, it was decided to meet the entire cost through UDF/DDA/ITPO.

He pointed out that project of Road Corridor improvement at ISBT, for which Delhi government had decided to do as its own has still not been started. “Apart from this two other projects on Ring Road i.e., Construction of flyovers at Metcalfe House and Majnu Ka Tila at the cost of Rs 320 crore for all three are still not yet sanctioned by Delhi Government”, he added

The construction of flyover passes between Northern Mahipalpur by pass road and Airport road near Hanuman Mandir, New Delhi at a cost of Rs 188 crore, will be completed by February, 2019. Similarly, construction of Flyover-cum-ROB on UER-I at Narela at a cost of Rs 437.21 crore, will be completed by March, 2019. As far as construction of Integrated Transit Corridor Development Plan along Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg, Mahatma Gandhi Marg and connecting Mathura Road to Mahatma Gandhi Marg via Underground Tunnel below Pragati Maidan at a cost of Rs 928.17 crore, is concerned, the Project will be completed co-terminus with completion of new world class ITPO facilities in October, 2019.

***

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
30-October, 2018 18:40 IST
Cumulative no of Houses Sanctioned Under PMAY(U) now more than 62,53,731

2,15,083 Houses Sanctioned Under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban) in the 39th CSMC Andhra Pradesh Gets 41,707 Houses, Maharashtra - 20,499, Uttar Pradesh - 50,271 and West Bengal -1,00,704

The cumulative number of houses sanctioned under PMAY(U) now is 62,53,731. The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has approved the construction of another 2,15,083 more affordable houses for the benefit of urban poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). The approval was given in the 39th meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee held here today.

Andhra Pradesh has been sanctioned 41,707 houses while the sanction for Maharashtra is 20,499 affordable houses. The number of houses sanctioned for Uttar Pradesh is 50,271, while West Bengal has been sanctioned a total of 1,00,704 houses. Nagaland has been sanctioned 1425 houses and Dadra and Nagar Haveli 477 houses.

A total of 334 projects with a project cost of Rs 8,559 crore with central assistance of Rs 3,226 crore has been approved in the meeting held under the Chairmanship of Sh Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The approvals under the Beneficiary led construction(BLC) vertical is 2,00,303 while it is 14,780 under Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) vertical.


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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
15-November, 2018 13:26 IST
RERA is bringing positive transformative changes in the industry— Shri Hardeep Puri

33,750 Projects & 26,018 Agents have been registered under RERA so far Maharashtra leads with 18,392 Projects & 17,188 Agents Registrations 3rd Regional Workshop on “RERA-a new era of transparency & accountability in Real Estate—2 years of Implementation & Way Ahead held

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C) of Housing and Urban Affairs, has said that in this new era OF RERA, we are witnessing positive transformative changes in the industry. “As we are in the 2nd year of the implementation of RERA, I am happy to note all the States/UTs have notified Rules under RERA except for 6 North Eastern States and the state of West Bengal”, he said. The Minister was delivering the inaugural address at the 3rd regional workshop on “RERA-a new era of transparency and accountability in Real Estate—2 years of implementation and Way Ahead” here today.

Lt. Governor of Delhi Shri Anil Baijal, Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, M/o Housing and Urban Affairs, various stakeholders, home-buyers, representatives of the developer’s association, Chairpersons and senior functionaries of the Authorities and Appellate Tribunals, senior officers from the State Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Delhi, were present on the occasion.

Shri Puri informed the gathering that recently, a separate deliberation with all the north-eastern states was organized by his Ministry, wherein all the clarifications were given. He hoped that RERA will be implemented in all the states of north eastern region very soon. Stating that it was a proud moment for all of us that India has climbed another 23 points in the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business Index” to 77th place, becoming the top ranked country in South Asia for the first time, Shri Puri pointed out that “the biggest gain was in construction permit, where India climbed from 181st ranks to 52nd place on the back of targeted government effort to remove hurdles.” “India reduced the number of procedures and time required to obtain a building permit by implementing an online system that has streamlined the process at the Municipality of New Delhi and Municipality of Greater Mumbai”, he added.

Shri Puri pointed out that till the year 2016, there was no regulator for real estate and construction sector, which is the largest employer after agriculture and housing. He said, in a landmark move, the central government, in the form of RERA, gave the real estate sector its first regulator w.e.f. from 1st May, 2016.

Shri Puri highlighted that to bring uniformity, professionalism, and standardization in the real estate sector, RERA provides for mandatory registration of Agents and Projects. “So far 33,750 projects and 26,018 Agents have been registered pan India”, he informed. “Maharashtra has the highest number of project and agent registration. In Maharashtra, total 18,392 projects and 17,188 Agents have been registered”, he pointed out.

The Minister emphasised that the full benefits of RERA would be realized only when the provisions of RERA are implemented in letter and spirit. The Minister said, all the stakeholders need to make aware about the powers and other provisions of RERA, as the Act also mandates under section 33 that the Authority shall take suitable measures for the promotion of advocacy, creating awareness and imparting training about laws relating to real estate sector and policies.

Pointed out that a committee was constituted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh under chairpersonship of Secretary, MOHUA to address the issues of home buyers and affected parties of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway, Shri Puri said the recommendations of the Committee are aimed at providing solution to the completion of homes in the stalled projects of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway. “None of the recommendations put any additional burden on the homebuyers, rather they will smoothen completion of the projects to deliver possession to home buyers at the earliest”, he said.

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RJ/KGS

 

[Hindustani78]

Vice President's Secretariat
16-November, 2018 18:55 IST
India is witnessing an Urban Renaissance: Vice President

Urban Renaissance Imperative for Economic Growth; India and US should come together and strengthen the existing relationship; Interacts with the Mayor of Houston, Mr. Sylvester Turner

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that India is witnessing an urban renaissance and has been set in motion. He was interacting with the Mayor of Houston, USA, Mr. Sylvester Turner, who called on the Vice President along with a high level trade and investment delegation including counselors, city planners, urban development officers and members of the Indo-American Business Chamber, in Mumbai today.

The Vice President said that Government’s initiatives such as Smart Cities, AMRUT Mission, Housing for all are changing the urban landscape by providing amenities to common man at an affordable price. A good beginning has been made and it needs to be taken to its logical conclusion to realize a new and resurgent Urban India, he said. With a new found spirit of confidence and a healthy competition among cities to improve urban amenities and quality of life of citizens, he added.

Shri Naidu said that the ultimate aim of the Government is to recast the urban landscape of our country and to ensure decent living for the rapidly growing urban citizens besides making our cities and towns dynamic engines of economic growth.

The Vice President informed the delegation about the transformative changes brought into governance by the government, and said it empowered state and city governments in respect of project formulation and appraisal under new urban missions in conjunction with capacity building.

The Vice President said that as 70% of our urban population are residing in 500 cities and towns a comprehensive five year action plans for addressing infrastructure deficit in a focused manner are being prepared for the first time to have an affordable and sustainable urban infrastructure that is inclusive in nature.

The Vice President said that 100 such Smart Cities are being built now in India that would act as lighthouses to inspire, motivate and encourage others to build more Smart Cities. He further said that a Smart city is one that is liveable and lovable - a comfortable and happy place for the citizens. Architectural planning of smart cities must have provisions for pedestrian passes, cycle tracks and more greenery, as that will enhance the health of citizens, he added.

The Vice President said that India and United States being the largest and oldest democracies in the world should come together and strengthen the existing relationship to foster new ties.

The Mayor appreciated the reforms that are being implemented in India and was all praise for India’s growth. He said that India is the fastest growing economy in the world. The Mayor expressed interest to further strengthen the existing cooperation with India, in the fields of Education, IT, Health and urban planning, transfer of technologies in various sectors.



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AKT/BK/MS/RK