"We would like to encourage mass housing projects for the middle class. Rajiv Awaaas Yojana, a new scheme announced during the President's address to Parliament, is also an ambitious programme since it aims to convert slums in all municipal towns and cities into pucca houses," the minister said. He was speaking at the inaugural session during the 81st annual general meeting of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in the city on Friday.

Since 65-70% people live in slums, the Rajiv Awaas Yojana would entail massive investment
to build concrete structures in place of slums. "We are awaiting details of the plan but significantly, this kind of large scale vertical construction is expected to release huge tracts of open space in urban areas," he pointed out.

The urban development ministry is spending Rs 50,000 crore in the next five years of which a substantial portion is earmarked for its flagship programme the Jawarharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) . It extends to urban transport schemes including new metro projects in Kolkata Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi. "The ministry has also approved a scheme to introduce a fleet of 1,200 low floor buses for urban transport services, during 2009-10," Ray said.

The coming budget is expected to outline steps to recover from the current economic slowdown and usher in reforms with a human face, he said. The government is also likely to pump in massive investment in public infrastructure projects alongwith a hike in spending on poverty alleviation and rural developments schemes.

Earlier speaking at the ICC event, union food processing minister Subodh Kant Sahay said the need of the hour is to improve the level of skilled workers in agriculture. He invited industry to partner the food processing ministry in a bid to create all round growth and equity in the rural sector. This is important in order to avoid a Lalgarh-like situation which affected West Bengal, the minister felt.