Supreme Court calls urban shelter scheme ‘a big scam’

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday smelt a rat in the Centre's National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) as it found that only 208 houses were built though the Centre had released Rs 1,078 crore to states to construct shelters for 9 lakh urban homeless.

"It is a big scam. Your (Centre's) affidavit tells us everything. Where has the money gone?" asked a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit, which was shocked by the statistics.

The government had earlier told the SC that Rs 170 crore was given to Maharashtra under the scheme but its affidavit said no shelter was constructed by the state in the last financial year. Similarly, Rs 180 crore was given to Uttar Pradesh but only 37 shelters were constructed.

Overall, 208 houses were constructed in 14 states and no construction was done in the remaining 11 states and Union Territories which were granted funds by the Centre.

"Affidavit shows us that no construction was done in Maharashtra. How was the Rs 170 crore granted to it utilized?" the bench asked and directed the government to furnish a financial statement within two weeks on how Rs 1,078 crore was spent.

Advocate E R Kumar, who has been championing the cause of homeless people, told the court that the government should be made accountable and the Centre must submit expenditure details for the Rs 1,078 crore.

As per the latest census, around 1.77 million people, or 0.15% of the population, live along the roads, on railway platforms and under flyovers. Around 9.38 lakh people are homeless in urban areas while there are 8.34 lakh such people in rural areas.

Uttar Pradesh has the highest proportion of homeless people in the country. Of the total homeless, 18.56% are in UP, followed by Maharashtra (11.9%) and Rajasthan (10.24%).

The NULM scheme was formulated by the ministry of housing and poverty alleviation and came into force in 2013. Under the scheme, which covers 790 cities, state governments are to built permanent, all-weather shelters for urban homeless people with basic infrastructure like water supply, sanitation, safety and security.