Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja on Friday said the target of making India slum-free in the next five years as envisaged in the Rajiv Awas Yojana was “not unachievable” but a lot would depend on how states cooperated with the Centre on the issue.

Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja on Friday said the target of making India slum-free in the next five years as envisaged in the Rajiv Awas Yojana was “not unachievable” but a lot would depend on how states cooperated with the Centre on the issue.

Though the initial optimism about RAY seems to have been dampened as not much progress has been made on the ground since UPA-II announced the scheme during the Presidential Address, the Centre has been making efforts to make it a success.
“It is achievable but we need full cooperation of states…the target is not unachievable,” Selja said.
When formulated, RAY was aimed at making India slum-free by 2014 by providing affordable housing to these people at the same place and also giving them property rights.
She maintained that some states had given a very good response but refused to name the states which did not appear to be very enthusiastic about RAY.
There were several states which were “quite forthcoming” in giving property rights to slum-dwellers as envisaged in Rajiv Awas Yojana, she asserted.
“RAY will bring a sense of competition among states to become slum-free,” Selja said.
The Pranob Sen Committee report, submitted to the government on 30th August, on statistical model for enumerating and identifying slums would solve the paucity of credible data, the minister maintained.
“Funds should not be a problem for the scheme,” Selja said.