There won't be any fund crunch for urban housing scheme: Hardeep Singh Puri

The Centre's flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) would not face any financial constraint because of the creation of a dedicated 'Affordable Housing Fund' announced in the Budget 2018-19, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.Over the sealing issue in the national capital, he said the deadline for sending the comments on proposals to the DDA which required amendment to the Master Plan Delhi (MPD-2021), to provide relief to traders, was increased by 48 hours and will end tomorrow. After that, a Board of Inquiry would be set up to look into the suggestions, before the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) takes a decision on the proposals on February 9. About the budget announcements, the minister said the outlay for PMAY (Urban) has been increased by Rs 25,000 crore in extra budgetary resources in the financial year 2018-2019.This amount was apart from the budgetary funding of Rs 6,505 crore for the housing scheme. "We will establish 'Affordable Housing Fund' which will be anchored in the National Housing Bank (NHB) and... raise Rs 25,000 crore from non-budgetary resources. "In other words, in the march towards affordable housing for all Indians by 2022, we will not have any financial constraints or bottlenecks," the housing and urban affairs (HUA) minister told reporters here. This was a "massive increase" of funds as against Rs 6,042.81 crore allocated for PMAY(U) in 2017-18, the minister said. Puri listed out various initiatives of the government to incentivise the affordable housing sector, like passage of the Real Estate Bill, infrastructure status to affordable housing sector and reduction of GST from 12 per cent to 8 per cent. The PMAY(U) aims to provide about 1.2 crore houses to the urban poor by 2022. In urban areas, the assistance has been sanctioned to construct 37 lakh houses till now. "Overall, the Union Budget, coupled with the recent initiatives, will have a positive impact on the housing and real estate sector in India," he said. To a query, the minister said that he has been asking the Delhi government to send proposals regarding various projects, including the phase IV metro and Delhi-Meerut expressway. "Time has come to ensure decongestion of Delhi. I am willing to go out of my way to find a solution. Whether that solution will include a possibility that if they (Delhi government) are not doing it, whether we do it on our own, I will say all options are on the table," he said.