- (1.) Sri S.V. Prasad, Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh has filed a comprehensive affidavit before this Court. In the affidavit it is incorporated that the situation of urban poor living in squalor in the slums requires more innovative policies. Based on the success in the rural areas, the Government of A.P. Started a separate Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas which organizes urban poor into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and gives them access to institutional credit. Banks have given more than Rs. 1,200 crores to the urban SHGs. In 2009-10. The access to institutional credit is only an entry point and the services are extended to employment, skill development, capacity building, inculcation of thrift, providing of marketing support insurance etc. Every urban slum has been surveyed systematically so that people can be participants in a micro planning exercise.
(2.) In the affidavit it is further mentioned that provision for pucca house for every houseless poor has been a pious purpose of the State Government. The State has taken up a massive housing programme named INDIRAMMA for the urban and rural poor by matching the supply of housing to the demand on a saturation approach. Under this, all the houseless poor are surveyed by special teams and every eligible household has been sanctioned a pucca house. The house is constructed by the beneficiaries themselves with the technical and financial help of the Government. Nearly 71 lakh rural and urban poor have been provided with houses at a cost of Rs. 11,000 crores in the last three years under this programme, a record not only in this country, but across many other countries.
(3.) It is further mentioned in the affidavit that there are 124 municipalities and municipal corporations in the State. Out of these, Hyderabad urban agglomeration is a metro city with a population of more than 57 lakhs. Due to the steady migration into the urban areas, especially into Hyderabad, a special action plan has been formulated for providing shelter to the homeless. Under this programme, more than 1 lakh houses are being constructed with financial assistance under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Apart from this, it is planned to start 60 night shelters - one for every 1 lakh population in the city of Hyderabad, before 31st December, 2010.;