Andhra Pradesh got 1,388 affordable rental housing complex for urban poor: Union Minister

TIRUPATI/NELLORE: The Union government has sanctioned 1,388 affordable rental housing complex (ARHC) units for Andhra Pradesh as part of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U), to ensure that urban migrants/poor get a dignified living near their places of work.  

Replying to an unstarred question by Tirupati MP Maddila Gurumoorthy in the Lok Sabha, Union MoS Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore said the ministry is implementing the ARHC scheme through two models -- utilisation of existing government-funded vacant houses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) and Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) (model-1), and construction, operation and maintenance of ARHCs by private entities on their available vacant lands (model-2).

The ministry has sanctioned 736 and 652 ARHC units for Kakinada and Vizianagaram under model 2 in which there is no provision for viability gap funding (VGF) by the government and the required investment for the construction and maintenance of ARHCs will be made by private entities, and recovered through rental income in 25 years.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur said the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is implementing Sports Promotional Schemes at its  training centres (STCs) in Eluru and Visakhapatnam in the disciplines of athletics, weightlifting, football, handball, taekwondo, boxing and volleyball.

The Union Minister was replying to questions raised by Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy on the sports infrastructure provided by the ministry to Andhra Pradesh after its bifurcation and details of proposals/requests received under Khelo India and other similar schemes.

The Union Sports Minister added that 104 athletes are being trained under the above Sports Promotional Schemes in Andhra Pradesh.

Further, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, stated that annual reports submitted by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 did not contain information on efforts to produce value added material such as building construction material, furniture, clothes, shoes, etc, from garbage/plastic to clear waste generated along the vast coast of Andhra Pradesh.