Households below BPL to get land

NEW DELHI: Landless households below the poverty line (BPL) will be allotted land on priority for housing by the government. This is planned as part of the exercise to cater to the most needy, based on an estimated dwelling unit demand of 24.47 million.
Households in the category would be identified by the rural development ministry at the earliest and the government would subsequently provide funds for the construction of houses once the identification process was complete, minister Shanta Kumar said at the inauguration of a National Workshop on Rural Housing and Habitat here.
Appealing to industrialists to involve themselves in the exercise, he urged that corporates and industries set themselves modest targets on rural housing in their areas of operation.
According to the 1991 census, over 34 lakh households countrywide are without shelter and most of them were also landless. Besides this, another one crore households are live in kuttcha houses.
Rural Development secretary M Shankar pointed out that given the mammoth gap in rural housing, it was not possible for any single sector to meet the challenge. All sectors, including the private sector, the government and NGOs should play a key role in this, he said.