PM to inaugurate biggest housing project for EWS in Maharashtra next month

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the largest housing project for economically weaker sections at Solapur, in Maharashtra, next month, a senior government official said on Friday.

The project at Raynagar in Solapur is spread over 100 acres and comprises 30,000 homes, of which 15,000 have already been built, Maharashtra's additional chief secretary Valsa Nair Singh said.

"The biggest economically weaker section housing scheme is now in the final stages of being built at a place called Raynagar in Solapur. PM Modi is coming next month to inaugurate it," the bureaucrat said, addressing a summit organised by industry lobby Naredco.

Every house is 300 sq ft and will be costing Rs 6 lakh for the beneficiaries, she said, adding that to be eligible, a family has to have an earning of less than Rs 3 lakh per year.

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) is executing the project, which also has assistance from the central government's PMAY.

According to officials, it is a set of seven housing societies and the beneficiaries include unorganised workers, textile workers, beedi workers, construction workers, ragpickers and garment workers.

Meanwhile, Nair said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to kick-start the multi-thousand crore Dharavi redevelopment project will be signed very soon.

She said the agreement will pave the way for similar projects to be carried out across the state, where a cluster gets developed.

The state government is working on a cluster-based development, and every project will entail signing of cluster and development agreement, she said.

By the end of the year, we will be "talking about" at least ten such cluster projects, Singh said, adding that a similar approach is being taken for the redevelopment of Kamathipura, the financial capital's red light district.

The new policy will push on affordable housing, push for "walking to work", bettering work-life balance, make home smarter and having the best of technology inputs, she said.

It will also incentivise homes for specific categories like ones for senior citizens and students, Singh said, stressing that the country is set to age going forward and the senior citizens have to be treated with respect and dignity.

The policy, a draft of which will be posted in public domain, will also seek to address the issue of skilled manpower, she said.

Speaking at the same event, Pravin Darade, the principal secretary for environment, said the government is working to create an action plan for climate change and has a set of 20 interns who are dealing with multiple government departments as part of the formulation.