NEW DELHI: Barely 5,648 govt funded vacant houses have been allotted to migrant workers under affordable rental housing complex (ARHC) scheme almost four-and-half years after it was launched during Covid-19 pandemic. This is less than 7% of the 83,534 houses that were identified for the scheme when it was approved by the Cabinet.
In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Monday, junior housing and urban affairs minister Tokhan Sahu informed the Upper House that five states and UTs — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh — out of 13 which have vacant govt funded houses have so far converted them to ARHC units.
Barring Chandigarh and J&K, none of the five states have converted and allotted all vacant houses for rental to migrant workers.
Among states that have not converted a single such vacant house, Maharashtra has a maximum of 32,345 flats, followed by Delhi (29,112) and Uttar Pradesh (5,232). ARHC was launched as a sub-scheme of PM Awas Yojana (U) in July 2020 “to provide dignified living to urban migrants/ poor near their workplace”.
The scheme has two models. First, utilising govt funded vacant houses constructed under different schemes to convert into ARHCs through Public Private Partnership (PPP) or by public agencies.
The second model is construction, operation and maintenance of ARHCs by public or private entities on their own available vacant land. The ministry informed the RS that so far 82,273 AHRC units have been sanctioned and 35,425 have been completed so far; all of them in Tamil Nadu.
Source Homevior.in
