Hyderabad, July 4: The state government will have to shell out an additional Rs 700 crore on the weaker section housing scheme for the current year due to the Telugu Desam. The TD had complained to the Centre regarding payments for levelling the ground to build houses under the "Indiramma programme.'

The much-publicised housing project for the poor under the Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) projects is coming up in Thane city. The twin projects involve the construction of several ground plus seven to eight storey buildings to house around 850 families in the city as well as from Kausa for the urban poor citizens of Thane. The said project is coming up at an open plot of land belonging to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) at Tulsidham and will provide homes to around 500 poor citizens.

Even after concerted efforts made by central and state governments, housing shortage has assumed frightening proportions. It is estimated that there is a housing shortage of nearly 25 million dwelling units affecting 67 million households. Most of this housing shortage pertains to low income families.

In West Bengal, joint-sector firms have been formed to provide low-cost housing for middle- and lowincome groups. The cross-subsidy model lets developers set prices for higher-income groups, while middleincome groups get houses at cost price and lower-income groups below that. A Mumbai-based group is investing about Rs 1,500 crore on a project in east Kolkata, which will have 20,000 units priced from Rs 3-6 lakh for lower- and middle-income groups. Kolkata's Shrachi Group is developing Greenwood Nook, also in the east. The 284-unit estate will accommodate all income groups.

An organisation set up by priests provides inexpensive bamboo houses to people living in slums and on the streets

Officials in the department of science and technology (DST) have woken up to the necessity of low-cost housing. The department has set rolling a project to develop low-cost houses that are adapted to

The Tata group is investing millions of dollars in Sun Catalytix

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