The West Bengal government will soon roll out a housing project ‘Nijoshree’ to provide homes to people whose monthly incomes cannot afford them houses near the city, Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said. The housing decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday following the success of a rehabilitation scheme ‘Banglar Bari’ under which slum-dwellers of Kolkata and other municipalities in the state would be given a flat each, Hakim told reporters. Under the ‘Nijoshree’ scheme, two categories of residential flats of one and two bedrooms would be provided to people whose monthly earnings are of Rs 30,000 or below. Those with income of up to Rs 15,000 per month would be eligible to apply for the 1BHK (378 sqft carpet area) flats, while whose monthly income is not mpor than Rs 30,000 can apply for the 2BHK (559 sqft carpet area). The 1BHK flats would cost Rs 7.28 lakh while the 2BHK flats would be priced at Rs 9.26 lakh, Hakim said. The proposed project would come up on land available with different bodies and development authorities of the government, the minister said. “There will be 50,000 units under the scheme initially and hopefully the project will be completed within the next two to three years,” he said. However, a single applicant would not be allowed to apply multiple times online. The cabinet also gave its nod to the proposed supplying green fuel to greater Kolkata within five years, the minister said. GAIL along with the Greater Calcutta Gas Supply Corporation Ltd (GCGSCL) would work for the Calcutta Gas Supply Project to household in South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia and Kolkata, he said. “The chief minister wants gas to be supplied to every household at reasonable rate. Within two years we will try to set up the network of pipelines to supply green fuel and in another five years its supply will start to areas under the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority,” Hakim said. The cabinet has also decided to upgrade around 10357 sub-centres to health and wellness centres in the state and recruit around 5,200 nurses for the grade II category, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Chandrima Bhattacharya said. (With PTI inputs)

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