Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 29: Housing and urban development minister Pushpendra Singhdeo laid the foundation stone for the construction of a 1,480 concrete house cluster at Patharbandha slum in the capital city Monday.
Tourism and culture minister Ashok Panda, Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani and Bhubaneswar (North) MLA Priyadarshi Mishra, and mayor Ananta Narayan Jena along with the deputy mayor were present during the occasion.
The project initiated under Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) envisages providing shelter to hundreds of homeless people residing in slums, and has a budget outlay of `108 crore.
Sources said the state government is likely to seek financial support under the Rajiv Rinn Yojana (RRY) scheme, devised by the Union ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation to provide financial assistance to affordable housing projects. The loan scheme of the ministry is target-based. However, it is also extended to affordable housing schemes or other slum-rehabilitation schemes undertaken by state governments including RAY.
The state government has initially planned to initiate the RAY projects for rehabilitation of Mahisakhal and Patharbandha slum-dwellers, the construction work of which is yet to commence.
Sources said the National Building Construction Corporation has been roped in for expediting the project work at Patharbandha slum.
Currently, about 600 low-cost houses are being constructed by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) under RAY. As per the last RAY survey, the city requires about 80,000 low-cost houses.
