Virtual foundation stone for housing in Dimapur

Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday virtually laid the foundation stone for Demonstration Housing Project (DHP) under PMAY-U at PWD Housing Complex, Sematila, Dimapur.
In his virtual address from Delhi, in the presence of minister for works & housing and mechanical Tongpang Ozukum; minister for soil and water conservation and geology & mining V. Kashiho Sangtam and NLA deputy speaker T. Yangseo Sangtam, Puri said that the building (ground floor+2) comprising of 40 units will be built using Prefabricated Sandwich Panel System-EPS Cement Sandwich Panels with steel structure. “It will be used as Working Women’s Hostel. The project will be equipped with other features & adequate social infrastructure,” Puri said.
Puri said more than 75 housing projects have been considered for a total of 32,335 houses in Nagaland, under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) using Emerging Technologies.
He further informed that more than 60 lakh houses of the 1.23 crore approved houses across the country have been handed over to beneficiaries while another 40 lakh houses were being constructed. Sharing the critical aspects of the mission, he said an important part of its implementation was the shift from old construction practices to “newer and greener” construction processes which were more sustainable.
He said houses developed under PMAY-U have optimised the utilisation of natural resources and building materials; reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and conserved energy consumption, considerably speeding up construction.
Out of the identified 54 technologies, Six Light House Projects using six distinct technologies were finalised to showcase use of these technologies for further mainstreaming in the country. He expressed happiness that Nagaland government also joined the growing movement by using a new technology– Prefabricated Sandwich Panel System– EPS Cement Sandwich Panels with steel structure for the DHP.
Informing that the Nagaland minister Tongpang Ozukum was keen on launching more such initiatives, Puri said the Ministry would consider the possibility of such DHPs in Nagaland.
“We will also see how we can direct more of our technology demonstrators to Nagaland”, he assured.
Further, the Union Minister expressed hope to see the finished product in Nagaland very soon.
In his welcome remark, Tongpang Ozukum thanked the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on behalf of the State government for allotting the DHP project at Sematila, Dimapur.
He said such project would be a boon for thousands of students and working women from rural areas, who flock to urban areas like Dimapur in search of work and education.
He assured the Ministry that the DHP at Sematila demonstrates workmanship. “We hope to utilise this as targeted and intended”, the Minister said.
Meanwhile, secretary for housing & mechanical, Kesonyü Yhome, who delivered the vote of thanks in Dimapur, thanked the Union Minister and officials of the Ministry for their commitment to explore initiatives to give all DHP projects to Nagaland, and lauded minister Tongpang for ensuring that the state was not lacking of such infrastructures.
He also welcomed the Union Minister to Nagaland and said the department and its officials would “leave no stone unturned” to ensure that the implementation was done as it should be.
Later, while addressing the media, Yhome said DHPs were mainly for housing projects in the urban areas which the Government of India allotted for each state. However, he said in the context of Nagaland, the Centre has decided to explore areas where they can give more than one to Nagaland.
Chief engineer, Housing, Tiameren informed that the allotted completion time was 10.5 months but due to late issue of work order, the ministry extended a grace period of one month (11.5 months).
He further informed that the building would cater to working women and its maintenance would be taken care of by the Housing department.