The number of slums in the country has reduced from 51,688 to 33,510 in ten years, said Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
The Minister told the Parliament that the number of slums has reduced by almost 35% as per the 58th and 69th round Survey of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on urban slums in 2002 and 2012 respectively.
Land and colonization are State subjects. The schemes related to housing including rehabilitation of slum dwellers are implemented by States and Union Territories (UTs).
However, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is supplementing the efforts of State and UTs by providing Central Assistance under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) for construction of houses for all eligible families and beneficiaries including slum dwellers.
Eligible beneficiaries can avail the benefit of PMAY-U through available four verticals i.e. Beneficiary-led Construction (BLC), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR), and Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).
ISSR component of the Scheme specifically deals with slum redevelopment using land as a resource.
Central assistance of ₹ 1 lakh per house is provided under this component, based on projects submitted by the State and UT Governments.
Under the ISSR component, a total of 4,51,050 houses have been sanctioned so far to construct houses for slum dwellers.
Public health and sanitation are State subjects. The primary responsibility of strengthening public health and sanitation in all urban areas including slums lies with the respective State and UT Governments.
However, the Central Government supplements the efforts of States and UTs through various programmatic interventions including Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM), National Health Mission (NHM) for augmenting and improving the sanitation and public health facilities for urban poor in the country including slum areas.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.