Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna: According to the plan, Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority (MHADA) will construct one lakh affordable houses on government’s land in two phases of the scheme. PM Awas Yojna or Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojan is the scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the aim to provide low-cost houses to all by 2022.
According to the statement of S.S. Zende, the Vice President of MHADA, the authority have identified 450 hectares of land in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) which is currently reserved as state government land. And currently authority focus only on those locations where there is rail and road connectivity.
“Nothing is concrete yet, we just have identified land and it will take time to come out with a roadmap on the project. We also need various clearances from the state government and the urban development department. We have targeted places like Vasai, Virar, Raigad, Palghar, Karjat and Kalyan where there is land available in abundance, currently under reserved category and owned by the state government”, Zende also added in his statement.
The in-charge of Konkan Board (MHADA), Mr. Vijay Lahane said that we have identified 23 plots in Ratnagiri, Raigad and some parts of Thane districts and there is wider scope to have affordable houses in this region. We are planning to build houses for economically weaker sections (EWG), middle-income group (MIG) and lower income groups (LIG). We have given proposals to various collectors of the regions we have identified for construction of houses and we are yet to receive approvals for the same.
To construct affordable houses, the state government of Maharashtra also plans to use defence land, airport authority land and Bombay Port Trust land.
According to the statement of Rajesh Prajapati, the president of MCHI Raigad, the state government should also consider private developers and Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) is something that can also be considered for the purpose. It is better to have various players rather than just one agency being assigned the task of constructing more affordable houses.
The Urban Development Department had directed the Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in the earlier to prepare a plan to construct affordable housing on Saltpan Land, but the expert advisor have claimed that construction on saltpan land is going to be a costly affair.
Source: www.asianage.com