The Hindu 01.02.2010
Haryana to build houses for urban poor
Special Correspondent
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Government has decided to raise the living standard of the urban poor by making them partners in the development process, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Sunday.
He disclosed that licences for the development of residential plots and group housing colonies were granted by the Department of Town and Country Planning under the provisions of Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975.
At present, 20 per cent of the total plots and 15 per cent of the total flats were reserved for allotment to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the society. As per the criterion, a person having monthly family income of Rs 3,500 was eligible for allotment.
Plots of about 60 square yards were allotted at a flat rate of Rs. 500 per square yard and the flats were allotted at a maximum cost of Rs. 50,000 per flat. The external development charges were not leviable on this component.
He said that in the absence of a defined criteria, it was very difficult to assess correctly the family income. To overcome this problem, it had been decided that 50 per cent of the plots reserved for EWS would be given to the Haryana Housing Board at the rate of Rs. 500 per square yard and the Board would construct flats on this land and allot the same to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families at a price approved by the government.
He said that the remaining 50 per cent plots and flats would be allotted by the colonisers to the BPL families which do not have their own flat/plot in any HUDA Sector/licensed colony in any of the urban areas in the state.
Mr. Hooda said that it would be ensured that these plots/flats were allotted to a “specific category” in the public interest.
The category could include slum dwellers occupying precious government land and “those who are to be rehabilitated as per policy/court orders or persons who have constructed houses on the acquired land and are eligible for rehabilitation as per government decision/court orders.”
