Ministry asks states, UTs to prepare land databases

NEW DELHI: The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has suggested that states and union territories prepare land databases which would help in the implementation of affordable housing projects, an official release said today.

The databases would include information about the availability of land, it said.

To give a push to the government's Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) (Urban), the ministry also asked them to share roadmaps for slum redevelopment.

The suggestions were made at a day-long national workshop on PMAY (Urban) held here recently.

Apart from senior ministry officials, the workshop was attended by some 170 participants.

The states and UTs were also asked to implement reforms that would ensure beneficiaries had valid land documents, besides putting in place a single-window time-bound clearance system for layout approvals and building permissions, the release said.

They were also asked to promote and monitor the progress of the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) and focus on specific categories such as teachers, anganwadi workers, paramilitary forces and state police personnel.

The workshop also stressed on the adoption of innovative and disaster resistant technologies for fast and quality construction of houses.

Under PMAY(U), the government seeks to provide houses to all urban poor by 2022. Currently, the shortage of houses in urban areas is pegged at 1.2 crore.