As many as 15 States have signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation for ‘housing for all’ mission in urban areas, an official statement said.

Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttarakhand have come on board within two months of the scheme’s launch and have agreed to implement six mandatory reforms, the statement said.

Under the MoA, the States have agreed to do away with the requirement of separate Non-Agricultural Permission (NAP) in case land falls in the residential zone earmarked in the Master Plan of city or town; prepare or amend Master Plans earmarking land for affordable housing; put in place a single-window-time bound clearance system for layout approvals and building permissions.

States have also agreed to do away with approvals below certain built-up area/ plot size in respect of Economically Weaker Sections and Low Income Groups; legislate or amend existing rent laws on the lines of the Model Tenancy Act circulated by the Ministry of HUPA ; and provide additional Floor Area Ratio/Floor Space Index/Transferable Development Rights (TDR) and relax density norms for slum redevelopment and low-cost housing.

As many as 305 cities and towns in nine of these States have been identified for building houses for urban poor. These include Chhattisgarh (36), Gujarat (30), Jammu & Kashmir (19), Jharkhand (15), Kerala (15), Madhya Pradesh (74), Odisha (42), Rajasthan (40) and Telangana (34), the statement said. Under this urban housing mission, the Central government will provide assistance of about ₹1 lakh to ₹2.30 lakh per house under different components of the scheme.

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