Centre to give Rs 1,500 cr for making cheap houses

NEW DELHI: Listing housing, power and water as the major problems facing Delhi, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said the Centre would give Rs 1,500 crore towards making cheap houses available to the poorer sections in the capital.

"Delhi is one of the fastest growing metropolises of the world and everyday there are droves of people coming to the city looking for work. Thus there is an urgent need for low-cost affordable houses for the poor," Gandhi said inaugurating the low-cost 'Rajiv Ratna Awas Yojna' housing scheme here.

The Delhi Government has vowed to resolve the housing crisis before the Commonwealth Games in 2010, Gandhi said. Despite a lot of development work being undertaken by the Government, water and power remaining major problems, she said.

The UPA Government at the Centre has already given Rs 265 crore to the capital to give houses to the poor and would give a further Rs 1,500 crore for development of the housing sector specially for the poor, she added.

Asserting that the capital witnessed development by leaps and bounds during the Congress regime, Gandhi said "From flyovers to the Metro, the city has got everything under the Congress Government".

"But all these successes opposition parties will criticise. So I urge my supporters not to pay heed to them. It is ultimately the people who will decide what is right and what is wrong," she added.