Nasima Khatoon said that yesterday was the happiest day in her life.
The 45-year-old woman of Phulwarisharif, who had been living in a leaky hut for years, received a new apartment thanks to a successful government program launched in 2005.
She took possession of the newly-built one-bedroom flat and related document from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a grand opening celebration. He said 50,000 houses will be built in 28 cities of the state. Altogether, 192 beneficiaries were allotted houses this weekend on the outskirts of the state capital.
These homes and tens of thousands more have been constructed around the country under the National Urban Renewal Mission for urban poor named for the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.
The urban beneficiaries are mostly women who are heads of households and living in crowded huts, unable to afford the exploding cost of city housing.
(READ the story in the Times of India)