New Delhi, 1 Feb (IANS): Two crore houses will be taken up in the next five years for those who are living in rented houses or in slums, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday in Parliament while presenting the Interim Budget.

Sitharaman announced that the Government will launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class “living in rented houses, slums and unauthorised colonies” to buy or build their own houses.

Highlighting the achievements of the PM Awas Yojana (Grameen), the Finance Minister said that despite the challenges due to COVID, implementation of the scheme continued and the government is close to achieving the target of three crore houses.

She said that two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years to meet the requirement arising from the increase in the number of families.

She emphasised that the Government was working with an approach to development that is all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive to make India ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.