Mumbai, Mar 18 (IANS): No poor person in Maharashtra will remain homeless by 2012, according to an ambitious target set by the government which plans to construct 735,000 houses for the poor in three years.

Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, addressing a joint sitting of the state legislature Thursday, said the government had taken the decision to provide the houses in the golden jubilee year of the state's formation.

"Once the scheme is implemented, no family below poverty line in the state will remain homeless," Sankaranarayanan said.

The carpet area of each such tenement for the BPL population would be 269 sq ft, costing Rs.70,000 each. Of this, the government will provide a subsidy of Rs.68,500, while the rest - Rs.1,500 only - would be the share of the beneficiary, he said.

So far, the government has constructed 96,058 tenements at a cost of Rs.5.5 billion.

Besides, the government will construct 75,000 houses for Scheduled Castes and neo-Buddhists and 70,000 houses for tribal families each year, he added.

In addition, the state has taken up a programme to construct 273,905 homes for the urban poor.

With a view to making Mumbai slum-free, the government gas constructed 114,550 tenements for slum dwellers under 612 projects. Another 2,517 project proposals have been received, of which 1,318 have been approved for implementation, he said.

"The government will wholeheartedly participate in the Rajiv Awas Yojana (which aims at slum free India) and is committed to make Maharashtra slum free," the gover