Know your Ministry - No. 30 - Housing & Urban Affairs

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is entrusted to formulate policies, sponsor and support programme, coordinate the activities of various Central Ministries, State Governments and other nodal authorities and monitor the programmes concerning all the issues of housing and urban affairs in the country. The matters pertaining to urban development have been assigned by the Constitution of India to the State Governments.

Attached Offices under the Ministry: Central Public Works Department, Directorate of Estates, Directorate of Printing, Land & Development Office, and National Buildings Organisation.

Subordinate Offices: Town & Country Planning Organisation, Government of India Stationery Office, Department of Publication ,Statutory and Autonomous Bodies: Government of India Stationery Office, Delhi Urban Arts Commission ,Delhi Development Authority, National Capital Region Planning Board ,National Institute of Urban Affairs ,Rajghat Samadhi Committee, Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), Central Government Employees Welfare Housing Organisation (CGEWHO) and National Cooperative Housing Federation of India (NCHFI)

Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs): National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited, Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO) and Hindustan Prefab Limited (HPL)

The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) is the Technical Wing of the Ministry and deals with the matters related to Urban Water Supply and Sanitation including Solid Waste Management in the Country.

Schemes/Programmes: Smart Cities, Atal mission for rejuvenation and urban transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat Mission , National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY),Urban Transport, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana ,Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission, North Eastern Region Urban Development Programme (NERUDP), Pooled Finance Development Fund Scheme, Pilot Scheme for of Urban Infrastructure Development in Satellite Towns around seven megacities Co-terminus with 12th Five Year Plan, Lump Sum Provision Scheme for the benefit of NER including Sikkim and Scheme of House Building Advance to Central Government Employees 

Publication: Manuals and Advisories, Notifications, Circulars, Policies & Guidelines, Reports, Detailed Demand for Grants, Annual Reports, Annual Reports of Rajghat Samadhi Committee, Annual Reports of NCRPD, Office Order, Annual Reports of BMTPC, Annual Reports of NUA

As per Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, the following business has been allocated to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs:

1. Properties of the Union, whether lands or buildings, with the following exceptions, namely:-
   (a) those belonging to the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Railways and the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Space; (b) buildings or lands, the construction or acquisition of which has been financed otherwise than from the Civil Works Budget; (c) buildings or lands, the control of which has at the time of construction or acquisition or subsequently been permanently made over to other Ministries and Departments.
2. All Government civil works and buildings including those of Union territories excluding roads and excluding works executed by or buildings belonging to the Ministry of Railways, Department of Posts, Telecommunications, Atomic Energy and Space.
3. Horticulture operations.
4. Central Public Works Organisation.
5. Administration of Government estates including Government hostels under the control of the Ministry. Location or dispersal of offices in or from the metropolitan cities.
6. Allotment of accommodation in Vigyan Bhawan.
7. Administration of four Rehabilitation Markets viz. Sarojini Nagar Market, Shankar Market, Pleasure Garden Market and Kamla Market.
8. Issue of lease or conveyance deeds in respect of Government built properties in Delhi and New Delhi under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954 and conversion of lease deeds, allotment of additional strips of land and correctional areas adjoining such properties. 
9. Stationery and Printing for the Government of lndia including official publications.
10. Planning and coordination of urban transport systems with technical planning of rail based systems being subject to the items of work allocated to the Ministry of Railways, Railway Board.
11. Fixing of maximum and minimum rates and fares for rail-based urban transport systems other than those funded by the Indian Railways.
12. Tramways including elevated high speed trams within municipal limits or any other contiguous zone.
13. Town and Country planning; matters relating to the Planning and Development of Metropolitan Areas, International Cooperation and Technical Assistance in this field.
14. Schemes of large scale acquisition, development and disposal of land in Delhi.
15. Delhi Development Authority.
16. .Master Plan of Delhi, coordination of work in respect of the Master Plan and Slum Clearance in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
17. Erection of memorials in honour of freedom fighters.
18. Development of Government colonies.
19. Local Government, that is to say, the constitution and powers of the Municipal Corporations (excluding the Municipal Corporation of Delhi), Municipalities (excluding the New Delhi Municipal Committee), other Local Self-Government Administrations excluding Panchayati Raj Institutions.
20. The Delhi Water Supply and Sewage Disposal Undertaking of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
21. Water supply (subject to overall national perspective of water planning and coordination assigned to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation), sewage, drainage and sanitation relating to urban areas and linkages from allocated water resources. International Cooperation and Technical Assistance in this field.
22. The Central Council of Local Self-Government.
23. Allotment of Government land in Delhi.
24. Administration of Rajghat Samadhi Committee.
25. All matters relating to Planning and Development of the National Capital Region and administration of the National Capital Region Planning Board Act, 1985.
26. Matters relating to the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH),Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO),NBCC(India)Limited and its subsidiaries and Hindustan Prefab Limited.
27. Formulation of housing policy and programme (except rural housing which is assigned to the Department of Rural Development), review of the implementation of the Plan Schemes, collection and dissemination of data on housing, building materials and techniques, general measures for reduction of building costs and nodal responsibility for National Housing Policy.
28. Human Settlements including the United Nations Commission for Human Settlements and International Cooperation and Technical Assistance in the field of Housing and Human Settlements.
29. Urban Development including Slum Clearance Schemes and the Jhuggi and Jhonpri Removal Schemes. International Cooperation and Technical Assistance in this field.
30. National Cooperative Housing Federation.
31. Implementation of the specific programmes of Urban Employment and Urban Poverty Alleviation including other programmes evolved from time to time.
32. Administration of the Requisitioning and Acquisition of immovable Property Act, 1952, Delhi Hotels (Control of Accommodation) Act, 1949, The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, Administration of the Delhi Development Act, 1957,The Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976, Delhi Urban Art Commission, the Delhi Urban Art Commission Act, 1973, Administration of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending)Act,2014,Administration of the Real Estate(Regulation and Development)Act,2016.

WAY FORWARD

1. Ministry is entrusted with tasks and responsibilities related to  multiple domains which needs to be decentralized independently under independent constitutional authorities like Real Estate, Transport, Sewage & Water Supply, Printing, etc and take up necessary Housing Reforms.
2. Ministry is mainly involved into Infrastructure projects under Construction and Maintenance and is dependent upon contractors who are entrusted the work on the basis of open tenders engaging workers mostly under the unorganized framework. Hence, the process needs to be regulated under a new Constitutional authority say, Comptroller General of Contracts for Infrastructure (CGCI) with Headquarters at Delhi and State Authority functioning at all the State Capitals.
3. State and Central Authorities should independently process and allocate contracts including supervision, completion, compliance of all contractual terms, Finance, etc.
4. Ministry of Statistics should develop a Centralized database containing information of all workers (both skilled and unskilled) validating their bonafide identity and residential credentials and maintain a transparent database District and State-wise so that the strength of available manpower could be determined before allocation of any contract.
5. Ministry should submit proposals to these statutory authorities and co-ordinate for completion of the tasks by identifying the manpower data available and the quantum of the projects with local resources.
6. Measure the density of population under urbanisation and impose restrictions on development of housing projects or illegal urbanisation that causes environment hazards and natural calamities.
7. Launch a massive National Housing Scheme that provides shelter to all by addressing to the problems of all Slum Dwellers including Health and Hygiene.  Impose suitable Regulatory methods to standardize the rental values at urban areas through effective control and monitoring of land values.