The Hindu       19.08.2010

Housing scheme runs into rough weather

D. Radhakrishnan

— Photo: M. Sathyamoorthy

The Kasturibai Colony at Kandhal near Udhagamandalam.

Udhagamandalam: The implementation of a housing scheme at Kasturibai Colony in Kandhal near here has run into rough weather following differences between the beneficiaries and those involved in its implementation.

Enquiries made by The Hindu revealed that under the Central Government-sponsored Integrated Housing for Slum Development Programme this hill station had been sanctioned 1080 units.

While the Centre took care of 80 per cent of the expenses, the balance had to be shared by the State Government and the beneficiaries.

Among the areas identified for implementation of the scheme was Kasturibai Colony where 200 houses were to be built.

With ten houses having been completed residents have started airing their grievances.

Lamenting that even ten months after razing to the ground all the existing structures, the scheme was far from being completed, they alleged that the quality of work was not satisfactory.

Claiming that the size of the houses was smaller than what had been stipulated, they said that the walls of the houses should not be common.

They added that they had sought the intervention of human rights activists to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to their grievances.

Meanwhile the Chairman, Udhagamandalam Municipal Council, R. Rajendran said that 16 slums had been selected for implementation of the scheme.

While over 600 houses had been completed and 200 were in the process of being completed, the 200 units sanctioned for Kasturibai Colony had been delayed due to various factors.

Stating that each house had to be built over 25 square metres and comprise two rooms, a kitchen and a toilet, he said that funds were being released in a phased manner. It was up to the beneficiaries to put up individual houses or houses with common walls.

Though the civic administration is not directly involved with the project it was coordinating the arrangements including bank loans. The Abubabaji Charitable Trust, a non-governmental organisation had also been requested to extend financial assistance to the beneficiaries at Kasturibai Colony.

Pointing out that due to the delay the construction cost was going up, Mr.Rajendran said that if the beneficiaries extend their cooperation all the houses can be completed within six months.

The Times of India  13.08.2010

CHENNAI: The trend of re-developing old TNHB apartments is growing but the exercise is riddled with hurdles, mostly caused by the original promoter the Tamil Nadu Housing Board.

Citing flimsy reasons, the TNHB has been fleecing owners approaching it for a no-objection certificate for re-development. Till 2000, it issued sale deeds without properly conveying the rights over the undivided share of land (UDS) to owners. In effect, the buyers own only the footprint of the complexes and have no ownership rights over the thoroughfare, car park and surrounding play area. The Board never obtained even a patta for the land for transferring it to the owners.

For re-development, the CMDA insists on owners/builders obtaining orientation sketch and NOC from the TNHB and patta from tehsildar. The applicant, who has to produce orientation sketch before revenue officials for patta, first pays 10% of the land's guideline value (running into several lakhs in most cases) for the sketch and NOC. "When the Board recovered the entire cost of the project land cost, development charges, cost of construction and overheads from the buyers at the time of sale, there is no justification in demanding more money from the owners. The CMDA should approve projects without insisting on an NOC," said P V Shanmugam, MD, Kgeyes, who has re-developed 12 TNHB projects.

The TNHB in the past had filled water bodies and promoted projects over them without reclassifying it as residential land. "It is now left to the apartment owners to get it reclassified," said Shanmugam.

S Sankararaman, whose apartment in Tiruvanmiyur is being re-developed, says the project, started in May 2008, got delayed because of the TNHB and CMDA delaying NOC and approval. "I am very happy about the new building. But I had to wait for a long time," he said.

D P Yadav, MD of TNHB, said: "It is the Board's decision to insist on NOC and collect money in cases where the UDS is not conveyed."

The same Board had decided in August 2009 to do away with issuing NOC for re-development of its apartment complexes. The decision was retracted recently.

A senior housing department official said: "Collecting extra money from apartment owners is unfair. People in authority have long forgotten the fact that the TNHB was set up with the objective of providing affordable housing for all. What it does now amounts to fleecing."

V Jaggannathan, MD of Ramaniyam, said, "Going by the Housing Board's logic, if footprints of the apartment complexes alone have been sold to owners, nobody can enter their house without trespassing Board's land. We have no other option than approaching the court for remedy. The TNHB did a fine work in promoting layouts and it flopped miserably while promoting apartments," he added.