3-Day Indian Urban Housing Conclave 2022 at Rajkot witnesses more than 5,000 visitors

Oct 22,2022

MoHUA’s efforts of providing housing to all applauded

Indian Urban Housing Conclave (IUHC) 2022, the 3-day Expo-cum-Conference at Rajkot, Gujarat, ended on a high note. The conclave was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 19th October 2022 at a mega event, wherein he also inaugurated Light House Project (LHP) Rajkot under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) and handed over the house keys to the beneficiaries.

This was followed by release of four publications of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) by Hon’ble Prime Minister. Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel, Hon’ble Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs; and Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep S Puri, Hon’ble Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

Rajkot is among the six cities where LHPs, built with modern technology, have been initiated. The one in Chennai was also inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister in May 2022. “I especially congratulate the mothers and sisters who have become the owners of these beautiful houses made with the new technology. Let’s pray that Goddess Lakshmi resides in your houses which have been built around Diwali. I was asking everybody about the house while I was handing over the keys. The satisfaction on their faces summed up everything regarding the houses,” Hon’ble Prime Minister said in his address.

Winners of PMAY-U Awards 2021 were also declared at the event and the winners were felicitated by Hon’ble Prime Minister. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu held the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively as Best Performing States under the scheme. Gujarat was awarded as the Best State for implementation of the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS). Tripura won the award for Best Performing State under PMAY-U in north-eastern and hilly States category.

Post the award ceremony, Hon’ble Prime Minister visited the exhibitions showcased on various Urban Missions under MoHUA and on Innovative Building Materials, Construction Technologies and Processes set up by global and domestic exhibitors.

Meanwhile, Hon’ble Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri distributed the PMAY-U Awards at Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat level, along with the awards in the Special Category. The Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu were felicitated for their performance. Shri Manoj Joshi Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Hon’ble Ministers from Assam and Tamil Nadu were also present during the ceremonial distribution of awards.

IUHC 2022 comprised of two major components: The first was an exhibition on Swachh Bharat Mission, Urban Transport, Smart Cities Mission, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) and PM SVANIDHI Missions from MoHUA; Gujarat’s State Pavilion showing Urban Landscape and Innovative Indigenous Construction Technologies. The Second component included deliberations among national & international domain experts on various issues of affordable housing, paving way for the future housing policies in the country.  Altogether, two Plenary sessions, three brainstorming sessions and six thematic sessions on Affordable Housing, Slum Redevelopment and Building Technologies were organised. UN-HABITAT India, BMTPC, and GIZ India also conducted various sessions.  Slum Redevelopment, Climate Smart Buildings, Public-Private-People Partnerships, Inclusive & Sustainable Housing, Use of innovative Technologies by Public and Private Agencies were some of the topics on which the sessions were held.

Several noted dignitaries of national and international repute were a part of the sessions conducted during the event. The finale of ‘Policy Dialogues for Beyond PMAY(U)’ was also held. The series provided a platform of discussion with States/UTs/Stakeholders to design a strategy to fulfil the vision of meeting urban housing shortage in India.

Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, UN-Habitat also joined the session on slum redevelopment virtually. In her message, Ms Sharif said, “Access to adequate housing can be a precondition for the enjoyment of several human rights including the rights to work, help, social security, vote, privacy or education.”

She commended the efforts put in by MoHUA for embracing the housing demand challenge through “many high impact and inclusive programmes.”

“I applaud the government’s effort to provide decent housing to all urban poor through largest affordable housing programmes. I am also very happy that this initiative prioritises the needs of women, minorities, persons with disabilities and urban migrants,” she added.

The valedictory session, held on Day 3 of the conclave was chaired by Shri Kaushal Kishore, Hon’ble Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs and attended by Shri Kuldip Narayan, Joint Secretary and Mission Director, Housing for All, Shri Ajay Jain, Special Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Smt Sharmila Joseph, Principal Secretary, Government of Kerala and other dignitaries. Hon’ble Minister also gave away the awards to the Best Exhibitors and the Poster Competition held during the conclave.

The ‘Indian Urban Housing Conclave 2022’ saw an overall football of more than 5,000 participants and 200 exhibitors and is expected to bridge the gap between technology providers, users, innovators, practitioners, and all other stakeholders. The conclave provided a platform to stakeholders for demonstrating their technologies as well as for deliberating upon various options of materials and processes for large scale adoption and mainstreaming in different type of housing construction in the country.