Gujarat government is taking steps to clear up the slums in the urban areas by shifting the slum-dwellers to the government-constructed housing colonies, reports suggest.

After the re-election, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is said to be giving a renewed thrust to housing for urban poor in the state.

The state government is learnt to have initiated a move to create a separate department of housing which would be directly under the control of the Chief Minister.

Modi has also reportedly directed the finance department to make budgetary provisions for constructing houses in the next financial year’s budget to be presented before the new state Assembly next month.

Urban development minister Anandiben Patel has confirmed the Modi government’s move to create a new department of housing, reports suggest.

The Modi government has also initiated the move to set up a state-level Housing Regulatory Authority, besides working on the General Development and Control Rules for suitable changes in the floor space index norms to allow more new constructions for residential quarters.

Modi has also revived the dormant Gujarat Housing Board, the state-owned body to construct houses, which had stopped new constructions for the last decade or so, and enabled it to float new schemes.