Government committed to providing affordable housing: Hardeep Singh Puri

NEW DELHI: The government is committed to ensuring a decent habitat for people in urban areas, particularly the poor, and has taken various initiatives in this regard, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said today.

He was addressing a programme organised here by his ministry on the theme 'Housing Policies: Affordable Homes' on the occasion of World Habitat Day.

Puri asserted that the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) is at the core of ensuring affordable homes to the poor and the needy while missions like the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) aim at enabling the much-needed infrastructure for a decent habitat.

Under PMAY (Urban), the ministry has so far approved construction of 28.57 lakh affordable homes for Economically Weaker Sections, Low and Middle Income Groups with an investment of Rs 1.54 lakh crore. A central assistance of over Rs 44,250 crore has also been approved for these houses.

Puri said that the government has taken several initiatives to boost the housing sector, especially the affordable units, to meet the accommodation needs of the people.

Amid concerns of slowdown, Puri said he had "reasons to believe" that the real estate sector will bounce back soon. Puri, while referring to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030, noted that India's performance would be the key to achieve these goals at a global scale.

The minister also distributed prizes to children, some of them differently abled, for their performances in drawing and painting competitions on this occasion.