These houses, to be made for 1800-odd residents of the KMDA housing complex off Chetla Haat Road, will be built by the KMDA under the JNNURM’s Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme. The existing four buildings, some almost crumbling, will be completely renovated with a community hall thrown in.

The project is at a cost of Rs 8.23 crore. Fifty per cent of the cost of an individual unit — Rs 1.68 lakh — will be borne by the government. The other half will have to be paid by the resident. The government will also pay the attending cost of the infrastructure. KMDA officials said the project will be through by 2010.

At the occasion, the minister said the government plans to build two lakh housing units for the poor in the next five years. Bhattacharya said, “Out of this, we already have sanction for 90,000 units. The work has begun too. We are waiting for a nod for the rest.” He expressed hope the Centre would give Rs 100 crore to West Bengal to build houses for the poor.

The minister added that the plight of the urban poor should not be politicised. He said all parties should be united towards building better homes for them. Former mayor Prashanta Chatterjee, who was also present, said the Urban Development department should hurry up with the work on projects already sanctioned in the area under the MP local area development (MPLAD) scheme. These amount to Rs 40 lakh, he said.