Nagaland gets 40 Cr. from center’s 40,000 Cr housing hand out

Al Ngullie
Dimapur, September 1

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has allocated Rs. 4000 crore to the states in the country to implement the Housing for All (Urban) Mission for 2015-2016. The mission component-wise allocation will be decided in due course on the basis of proposals received from the states and union territories, the ministry has said. Coinciding with the portent of the official letter from the center, 15 states in the country have signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation. By signing the memorandum, the states have committed to implementing six mandatory reforms essential for making a success of the housing mission in the urban areas.
A copy of an official letter written to the chief secretary of the state from RS Singh, director of the ministry’s mission directorate was made available to this reporter on Tuesday, September 1.
“In the BE 2015-16 of this Ministry, a provision of Rs.4000 crores (inclusive of allocation for NE States and Tribal Sub-Plan) has been made for release to the State/UT governments under the Housing for All (Urban) Mission (except CLSS component), “ Singh stated in the official letter.
The states and the union territory governments are again requested to forward the signed Memorandum of Agreement and proposals for inclusion of cities and their details. While submitting the matter, the proposals for inclusion of cities, total resource and requirements and the proposed share of the state / ULB under each component of the mission may also be included, the central directorate stated.
Associated with the contents of the letter, is the memorandum. Within two months of the launch of the Housing for All (Urban) Mission, 15 states in the country have signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation. Y signing the memorandum, the states have committed to implementing six mandatory reforms essential for making a success of the housing mission in the urban areas.
The states are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
Also, 305 cities and towns across the country have been identified where construction of houses for the urban poor will begin. There is not town for Nagaland though in the segment.
The states have taken up the responsibility of implementing the six reforms. The six points are:
• Doing away with the requirement of separate Non Agricultural Permission (NAP) in case land falls in the residential zone earmarked in the Master Plan of city or town
• Preparing or amending Master Plans earmarking land for Affordable Housing
• Putting in place a single-window-time bound clearance system for layout approvals and building permissions
• Doing away with approvals below certain built up area/ plot size in respect of Economically Weaker Sections and Low Income Groups
• Legislating or amending existing rent laws on the lines of the Model Tenancy Act circulated by the Ministry of HUPA
• To provide additional Floor Area Ratio (FAR)/Floor Space Index/Transferable Development Rights (TDR) and relax density norms, for slum redevelopment and low cost housing.