MP, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Telangana, AP, UP, Mizoram lead in sheltering urban homeless

Madhya Pradesh (MP), Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and West Bengal are in the forefront of providing shelters for urban homeless under ‘National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM)’ while Telangana, Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Mizoram fare will in respect of functional shelters. Under NULM, construction of a total of 358 new shelters has been sanctioned besides refurbishment of 149 and another 263 shelters are being supported with Operation & Maintenance support under the Mission, in 20 states. This was informed by Babul Supriyo, Mister of State for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation in written reply to Dr.Gokaraju Gangaraju and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy in the Lok Sabha. He also informed that 270 such shelters are in operation in 9 states. Under ‘Shelters for Urban Homeless’ component of NULM, 75% of the cost of construction of new shelters and refurbishment of existing shelters was provided as central assistance by the Ministry of HUPA. Towards O & M costs, each shelter was getting an assistance of Rs.6.00 lakhs per year. NULM has been renamed as ‘DeendayalAntyodayaYojana-NULM’ last week. Of the 770 shelters receiving central support under NULM, Madhya Pradesh leads with 133, followed by Tamil Nadu-95, Rajasthan-87, Uttar Pradesh-72, West Bengal-50, Bihar-48, Telangana-41, Jharkhand-35, Mizoram-35 and Andhra Pradesh-31. Of the 270 shelters for urban homeless in 9 States, Madhya Pradesh again leads with 100 followed by West Bengal-37, Tamil Nadu-33, Mizoram-33, Telanagana-24, Andhra Pradesh-23, Maharashtra-14 and 3 each in Karnataka and Rajasthan. Under NULM, an expenditure of Rs.77.36 cr has been incurred on sheltering urban homeless since the financial year 2014-15.