City Lights: Govt to set up Slum Upgradation Index to monitor schemes

Govt to set up Slum Upgradation Index to monitor schemes

With an aim to rehabilitate slum dwellers and provide them with basic civic amenities,the government is planning to set up a Slum Upgradation Index for city and state-wise monitoring of its schemes. Announcing the programme,housing and urban poverty alleviation minister Ajay Maken also said his ministry will not follow any more distinction between various notified,recognised and identified slums while providing financial assistance under the Rajiv Awaas Yojana RAY. We have decided to have a Slum Upgradation Index for every city and state now. We are going to set up a committee which will give us a report in three months suggesting us ways to prepare the Index,city and state-wise, Maken said.

Realty players seek more rate cuts to boost sector

Real estate players and analysts welcomed the Reserve Banks move to cut short-term lending rates,but said that more such steps are needed to bring growth back to the sector. Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India CREDAI,however,termed RBIs repo rate reduction by 25 basis points as a missed opportunity and urged it to ease funding options in realty sector. One would have expected RBI to be realistic and appreciate the fact the real estate industry supports hundreds of other industries and hence plays a major role in rejuvenating the economy,hit by job losses and dwindling investments, CREDAI National President Lalit Kumar Jain said.

Home sales in January up 46 in NCR,down 14 in Mumbai

Housing demand has picked up in the National Capital Region NCR with sales rising by 46 per cent in January this year to nearly 9,000 units mainly on the back of clarity in land acquisition issues in Greater Noida,property research firm PropEquity said. Housing sales in Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMR,however,dropped by 14 per cent,according to a PropEquity study that tracks over 45,000 projects of 8,200 developers in over 40 cities. The total absorption in NCR stood at 8,812 units in January 2013,a 46 per cent increase from the year-ago figure of 6,032 housing units. The clearing up of the land acquisition issues along with the highly affordable units available in Yamuna Expressway and Noida Extension have resulted in the sale of 3,998 units in January 2013,PropEquity said. The new launches in NCR dropped by 35 per cent to 5,208 units from 8,041 units in the year-ago period. In MMR,PropEquity said that the total absorption during January stood at 5,130 units,a drop of 14 per cent from 5,983 units in the year-ago period. New launches declined by 48 per cent in MMR in January 2013.