Housing board to rope in pvt players for low-cost homes
LUCKNOW: The UP Housing and Development Board (UPHDB) has decided to build low-cost houses in the range of Rs 1 lakh to 2 lakh for the underprivileged sections with the help of housing agencies in the private, cooperative and public sector.
The UPHDB, which has two upcoming group housing projects in Lucknow and one in Kanpur, said it intended to meet the shortfall for houses under the lower income and underprivileged sector by giving licenses to private developers.
“The overall demand for houses in the state is around 3.17 lakh. All the housing and development agencies like the development authorities, local bodies and the UPHDB put together can only provide around 1 lakh dwelling units per year. There is no alternative but to go for private hand-holding to meet the huge gap in the housing demand,” said an official.
He said the state government had revised the integrated township policy and licenses would be issued to new private developers to meet the housing deficit, especially under the low-income group. The housing agency, he said, had done away with the existing system under which leftover or excess EWS houses were auctioned. It would now allot all such dwelling units through a lottery draw.
The UPHDB, which was facing trouble from landowners/ farmers under its Vrindavan Housing Scheme, has offered them land under its housing scheme in lieu of their acquired land. “Though the deadline to avail the offer had lapsed, we have decided to extend it till December 31 for providing 5% land to the farmers whose land holdings have been acquired by us under our Vrindavan Scheme,” the official said.
Plagued with the problem of rising unauthorised constructions in its housing schemes, the housing agency now intends to arm itself with the ability to seal illegal structures akin to the power enjoyed by development authorities.
Strange though it may sound but presently only development authorities and the municipal corporations possess the power to seal unauthorised buildings under the UP Urban Planning and Development Act in their respective housing schemes.
Besides housing projects in over a dozen cities all over the state, the UPHDB has five major housing schemes in Lucknow alone. These include schemes on Hardoi Road, Indira Nagar Housing Scheme, Rajajipuram, Vikas Nagar and the Vrindavan Housing Scheme on Sultanpur Road.
“Our by-laws provide for giving notice for removal/demolition of encroachments but we cannot seal an illegal construction or a structure,” said the official.