MUMBAI: To get residents to take up rainwater harvesting, BMC officials will begin visiting housing societies and urge them to implement the project in their colonies. The civic body also plans to put up hoardings, advertisements and start awareness campaigns regarding the system. Besides, it has also introduced property tax rebates and water tax rebates for those building that have implemented rainwater harvesting.

After scrapping the Mahamaya Awas Yojna and Mahamaya Sarvajan Awas Yojna of the previous BSP government, the UP government has decided to launch a single housing scheme for the rural poor, named Lohia Awas Yojna. Both abolished schemes were launched by former CM Mayawati on the lines of the Centre’s Indira Awas Yojana (IAY). Under both schemes, a beneficiary had been given Rs 45,000 as financial assistance to build a pucca shelter.

JAIPUR: The state cabinet on Wednesday approved allotment of nearly 400 hectares land near Sariska to the forest department in return for the land acquired in Jaipur for the Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojana meant to rehabilitate slum dwellers.

Decisions related to salaries and perks of chairperson and members of the state human rights commission, lawyers' welfare, increase in study leave for doctors and enhancing the policemen's allowances were also taken at the meeting.

The Delhi government on Monday decided to expedite the construction of around 70,000 low-cost flats for slum dwellers while asking the concerned department to immediately start distribution of 14,000 flats completed.

The 14,000 flats will be distributed among the residents of the slums which have come up on land owned by the city government and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB).

The policy will include increasing the floor space index & easing of density norms

An affordable housing policy is in the works to attract developers and to meet the shortage of around 25 million houses in the country. The Union Budget had announced access to external commercial borrowing (ECB) for affordable housing but the industry wasn't excited due to low margins in this category. Now, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (Mhupa) is in the process of framing an affordable housing policy, expected to be finalised in two months.

In a bid to make the city slum-free, the Delhi government has decided to start allocation of around 10,000 low cost flats from next month. The project is, however, delayed for more than three years.

The government will allocate 500 flats to slum dwellers in June and the allocation would continue thereafter, Delhi urban development minister A.K. Walia said.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit instructed the urban development ministry to expedite distribution of flats on Wednesday.

AHMEDABAD: In what may come as a setback for AMC, the union ministry of urban development has sent a report highlighting shortcomings in the JNNURM projects implemented in Ahmedabad city. Union minister Kamal Nath, in his letter of April 25, 2012, has informed the state government to take "immediate actions" based on the inquiry report.

A team of urban ministry officials was in the city recently to inquire into the allegations fielded by the opposition Congress in the AMC. The union ministry has also asked CAG to inquire into the implementation of JNNURM projects across Gujarat cities.

The small village in North-West Delhi with a population of about 11,000 has been seeking consolidation of the land holdings and increasing the “Lal Dora” limits to create more space for villagers to build their houses. The villagers also do not have any proof of land ownership.

In the absence of consolidation and the expansion of Lal Dora, several villagers who have no land earmarked for residential purposes have been forced to construct houses on agricultural land, which is illegal.

Houselisting and Housing Only 78.4 per cent houses have provision for drinking water on premises, 3.3 per cent still defecate in the open. Drinking water and sanitation, the two basic civic needs, are still lacking from many parts of the city, the Houselisting and Housing Census 2011 has found. The findings of the census were released on Monday.

New Delhi may be the capital of the country but 22 per cent of its people do not have access to a latrine in their premises and are forced to defecate in the open or use public toilet.

According to 'Houselisting and Housing Census 2011' for Delhi released today, 89.5 per cent of the 33.40 lakh households in Delhi have a latrine in their premises while 3.3 per cent are forced to defecate in open.