Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja has said the Union Government is soon coming out with a national policy on housing.
“The policy aims at providing shelter for poor in government as well as private housing projects,” she said after laying the foundation stone for construction of 1,000 houses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) at Sadaramangala near K R Puram on Thursday.
Ms Selja said the Union Government has been contemplating reservation of 25 per cent of houses in every housing project for poor. “A draft of the policy has been prepared. It will be made public once it is finalised. The Centre expects cooperation from state governments for effective implementation of the policy,” she said. The Union minister said that the Centre has approved over 1,000 projects across the country with a total cost of Rs 35,000 crore with Centre’s share of Rs 19,778 crore. The Karnataka government has got approval for 18 programmes of total cost Rs 1,432.57 crore, she said.
Housing minister D T Jayakumar said many houses constructed under the Indira Awaj scheme and VAMBAY have been rented out.
The government is keen on taking action against beneficiaries who rent out their houses. He also demanded that the Centre  extend JNNURM to other cities of the state.
Karnataka Slum Clearance Board has taken up construction of 1,000 houses at a cost of Rs 15.21 crore under JNNURM. Centre’s share in the project is Rs 7.61 crore. The Union Minister also distributed title deeds of 164 houses constructed under VAMBAY.