UT working to make scheme affordable, to share exact rates

CHANDIGARH: The UT administration will be recalculating the exact pricing of the two different options to make the UT Employees’ Housing Scheme affordable. The detailed pricing will be shared with the employee representatives for their consent.

This was decided in a virtual meeting held on Wednesday on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court, and chaired by the Union home secretary.

Senior UT officials, including UT adviser Manoj Parida, Chandigarh Housing Board chairman Ajoy Kumar Sinha, CHB chief executive officer Yashpal Garg, along with the employees’ representatives, Dr Dharmender Shastri, Balwinder Singh, and Dr

Brahmprakash Yadav, were present in the meeting.

Dr Shashtri said, “The administration has shared three options. First, charging only for the plotted land and not for the total land. Second, construction of an 11-storey tower project in Sector 56. Third, the Solanki proposal — to allot at an old rate with 10% interest. But employees need to know the exact pricing in each of the options before they can take any decision.”

“After deliberations to resolve the issue regarding rates of flats, it was decided that the calculation of rates be made again for different categories by applying various factors like floor area ratio, collector rate, plotted area, etc., in consultation with the representatives of petitioners of the scheme’s court case,” stated an administrative release.

Thereafter, another meeting will be held with the Union home secretary for further directions in the matter. Parida said the project will not be abandoned and employees will certainly get houses at concessional rates.

The housing scheme, floated in 2008, failed to take off even though the employees had already deposited around ₹57 crore with the CHB in 2012. The latest action to resolve the issue pending for more than a decade came only after the HC intervened.

DETAILED PRICING TO BE SHARED WITH STAFF’S REPRESENTATIVES FOR THEIR CONSENT