By IANS,
New Delhi : The central government will monitor the periodical up-gradation of slums in the country by making a “slum upgradation index”, a union minister said Thursday.
“We will frame a slum upgradation index city-wise and state-wise for monitoring periodically the upgradation of slums. For this purpose a committee will be set up to suggest the methodology for drafting this index,” said Ajay Maken, minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation.
Maken was speaking at a function for the release of a report on housing stocks, amenities and assets in slums based on house listing and Housing Census 2011.
He said his ministry will not have any distinction between notified, recognised and identified slums while providing financial assistance to the states under the Rajiv Awaas Yojana (RAY) scheme with an objective of bringing improvements in slums.
He also urged the state governments to convert the notified local bodies into statutory local bodies with provision of municipalities for improving the living conditions in these towns.
Out of 330 million (33 crore) census houses, 17 million (1.73 crore) census houses have been reported in the house-listing blocks categorised as slums in India.
There are more than 25 percent households across India which live in slums.
Around 71 percent of the slums are located in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, while cities like Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur, Mumbai, Vijayawada and Meerut have more than 40 percent of slum households.
The report was released in the presence of Minister of State for Home Affairs R.P.N. Singh at a function organised by the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India.