23.6 Lakh Houses Delivered So Far: Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs

Excerpts:

How would you assess the progress made by the Smart City Mission till date?
Since the launch of the mission in June 2015, all cities have shown significant progress. A total of 5,151 projects with a net outlay of Rs 2,05,018 crore have been proposed by the 100 cities to be completed in five years of their selection. Of the net outlay, 45 per cent comes from the central and state governments, 21 per cent each from convergence and PPP, 5 per cent from debt and loans, 1 per cent from cities’ own resources and the rest 7 per cent from other sources.  As of April, 3,492 projects worth Rs 1,32,068 crore have been tendered, 2,745 projects worth Rs 87,131 crore have been grounded, and 860 projects worth Rs 14,465 crore have been completed.

Mission cities have expedited work on key projects. These includes the Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) that are operational in 16 out of 71 cities; smart road projects that have been completed in 23 out of 69 cities; smart solar projects that have been completed in 15 out of 47 cities; smart water projects that have been implemented in 23 out 67 cities; smart waste water projects which have been implemented in 23 out of 56 cities and public-private partnership projects that have been completed in 26 out 61 cities.

How has AMRUT improved life in tier-2 cities?
Under AMRUT, 57 lakh water taps and 36 lakh sewerage connections for households have been provided so far. Many of the mega projects in sewerage and water supply sectors are underway with focus on recycling of treated water for industry and arboriculture etc. More than 61 lakh streetlights have been converted into LED across the country, thereby effecting huge energy saving. More than 1,000 divyang friendly parks and green spaces have already been developed. Online building permission system has been implemented in 439 cities, as a result of which India’s rank in this component has jumped to 52 in the World Bank’s Doing Business report 2019 from 181 in 2018.

How has the Swachh Bharat Mission progressed? 
Till date, urban areas in 23 states/UTs have become open defecation free (ODF). In all, 4,155 cities have declared themselves ODF, of which 3,592 have been certified ODF through third-party verification. In the process, nearly 63.6 lakh individual household toilets (against the target of 66 lakh toilets) and 5.2 lakh seats of community / public toilets (against the target of 5.08 lakh) have been constructed or are under construction.

As on date, 90 per cent of wards are practicing door-to-door collection of waste, and nearly 54 per cent of the total waste generated is being processed, while 64 per cent of wards are practicing source segregation. Also, the waste treatment capacity has risen from 95 lakh tonnes per annum in 2015 to nearly 238 lakh TPA including decentralised capacity.

How has Hriday been a boost for the economy? What else are you planning under this banner?
Under the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (Hriday), the ministry has allocated Rs 500 crore for development of civic infrastructure in and around heritage sites in 12 cities. During the project execution stage, local artisans were given priority for developing aesthetically appealing components such as murals, wall artwork, statues, etc. Similarly, IEC events with focus on promotion of tangible and intangible heritage of respective cities were organised.

How do you plan to ensure Housing for All within the stipulated timeline?
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) — Housing for All Mission, launched in June 2015, seeks to provide Central assistance to implementing agencies through states/Union Territories (UTs) for providing houses to all eligible families/beneficiaries by 2022. So far 4,445 cities/towns have been included under PMAY (U). Against the demand of 1 crore houses, 81 lakh houses have been sanctioned. So far, 46 lakh houses have been grounded; 25.5 lakh have been completed of which 23.64 lakh have been delivered. An investment of Rs 4.8 lakh crore has been approved with commitment of Central assistance of Rs 1.26 lakh crore. A total of Rs 50,662 crore of Central assistance has been released.

A National Urban Housing Fund (NUHF) for Rs 60,000 crore has been set up for raising extra budgetary resources (EBR) in phases for the rapid implementation of PMAY. As of 2019 March Rs 28,000 crore has been raised and released under this mechanism.

What major benefits have been reaped under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission? 
The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana — National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) seeks to improve the livelihood opportunities for the urban poor on sustainable basis.  So far, around 40 lakh women from urban poor households have been mobilised as members of 3.8 lakh self-help groups, which are engaged in various activities for promoting economic and social upliftment. The mission has skill trained and certified about 10 lakh beneficiaries. Around 5 lakh beneficiaries have been provided loans from banks for setting up self-employment ventures. Interest subvention is available on timely payment of these loans for interest rates over 7 per cent.   Around 1,400 all-weather 24x7 shelters are in operation in cities that can accommodate 70,000 homeless persons. So far, more than 18 lakh street vendors have been identified and over 9 lakh have been provided with identity cards.