Almost 25 per cent of houses constructed across the country for urban poor under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission are yet to be occupied by the beneficiaries, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
In a written reply to the House today, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Babul Supriyo also said that 10 states - Maharashtra Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka - accounted for 92 per cent of the total houses lying vacant.
Among the good performers in occupation of JNNURM houses are Tripura, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Manipur and Jharkhand.
"Out of 13,92,589 houses sanctioned for urban poor under JNNURM, construction of 9,80,216 dwelling units has been completed (71 per cent) of which 2,37,546 houses (25 per cent) are still to be occupied by the beneficiaries," he said.
Supriyo stated that under JNNURM and Rajiv Awas Yojana, a total of 1,695 housing projects were sanctioned at a total cost of Rs 40,536 cr, involving Central assistance of Rs 21,101 cr for the construction of 13,92,589 houses.
JNNURM was brought to a close by March 31, 2014 by the earlier government and the present government has extended time for completion of housing projects.
Maharashtra topped the list with 52,966 of 1,23,963 houses are still vacant, followed by Gujarat(29,126/1,18,044), Delhi (26,759/27,344), Madhya Pradesh (26,004/33,081), Andhra Pradesh (23,688/62,949), Telangana (21,578/73,795), Uttar Pradesh (14,890/61,169), Chattisgarh (8,875/18,662), Tamil Nadu (7,517/1,10,129) and Karnataka with 7,157 of the 42,879 houses lying vacant.
In terms of vacancy ratio, Delhi topped the list with 98 per cent of JNNURM houses lying vacant, followed by MP with 79 per cent, Punjab with 78 per cent (4,345/5,534), Himachal Pradesh with 63 per cent (516/818), Chattisgarh with 48 per cent, Maharashtra with 43 per cent, Sikkim with 43 per cent (111/260), Andhra Pradesh with 38 per cent and Telangana with 29 per cent.
Among the good performers in respect of occupation of JNNURM houses, Tripura topped the list with all 3,371 houses occupied and closely followed by West Bengal reporting 99.50 per cent occupancy with only 846 of 1,55,141 houses constructed to be occupied.
Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Manipur and Jharkhand also reported more than 99 per cent occupancy.
Other states to have done well include Odisha with only 2 per cent vacancy, Kerala-3 per cent, Tamil Nadu-7 per cent, Rajasthan-11 per cent, Jharkhand-15 per cent and Karnataka with 17 per cent vacant houses.
For other states, vacancy ratio is 21 per cent for Haryana, Uttarakhand - 23 per cent, UP - 24 per cent and Gujarat - 25 per cent.
Supriyo said in his reply that concerned states have been asked to complete the ongoing housing projects by the extended date of March 31, 2017 and to take necessary measures to ensure occupation of all houses.
