Agartala, Dec 5 (TIWN): Under Central Govt's JNURM scheme, Tripura does well with all houses occupied; over 99% occupied in W.Bengal,Bihar, Assam, Manipur, Jharkhand .

Out of 13,92,589 houses sanctioned for urban poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), construction of 9,80,216 dwelling units has been completed (71%) of which 2,37,546 houses (25%) are still to be occupied by the beneficiaries. This was informed by Shri Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation in a Written Reply in Rajya Sabha . 

Babul 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 construction of 13,92,589 houses. 

JNNURM was brought to a close by 31.3.2014 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 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. These 10 states accounted for 92% of the total houses lying vacant. 

In terms of vacancy ratio, Delhi topped the list with 98% of JNNURM houses lying vacant followed by MP-79%, Punjab-78% (4,345/5,534), Himachal Pradesh-63% (516/818), Chattisgarh-48%, Maharashtra-43%, Sikkim-43% (111/260), Andhra Pradesh -38% and Telangana-29%. 

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% 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% occupancy. 

Other states to have done well include Odisha with only 2% vacancy, Kerala-3%, Tamil Nadu-7%, Rajasthan-11%, Jharkhand-15% and Karnataka with 17% vacant houses. 

For other states, vacancy ratio is 21% for Haryana, Uttarakhand-23%, UP-24% and Gujarat-25%. 
Babul Supriyo said in his reply that concerned states have been asked to complete the ongoing housing projects by the extended date of 31.3.2017 and to take necessary measures to ensure occupation of all houses