LIC to construct 1 lakh houses
Homes in the Borivli township will be offered to policy holders at market rates; LIC employees feel some of these houses should be reserved for them……..ALPITA MASURKAR
The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will be constructing over one lakh houses in a township in Borivli West, which can be purchased by its policy holders at market rates. However, employee unions arent too pleased by this, as they think a portion of these houses should be reserved for LIC employees.
The LIC expects this policy holder housing scheme to soon take shape. The contract for conducting a survey and researching the project has been handed over to Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), which will survey the 83 acres of land available for the project and then call for tenders from developers.
The houses will be constructed in a planned city in a project worth Rs 1,184 crore. IL&FS has been awarded the contract for Rs 50 lakh, said an LIC official on condition of anonymity.
LIC, at one point, held over 150 acres of land on this plot, which is near Shanti Ashram in Borivli. However, over the years, it was encroached upon as the demand for housing grew. Today, eight developers have constructions on this land. There are also LIC zonal training centres (ZTCs) and LIC colonies on the plot. Some part of the land has been given to the BMC for running BEST routes. Only 83 acres is now remaining for the housing project, added the official.
The LIC had first acquired this land in the 1960s. The Corporation had then built LIC colonies and ZTCs, but for over four decades, most of the land remained unused.
LIC currently has 25,000 employees in Mumbai and only 1,600 houses in its staff quarters. These employees may therefore expect a share of the new homes.
The new project may therefore run into dispute and face delays, with many of the 12 LIC employee unions in Mumbai coming forward claiming a stake on some portion of this vast land.
One of the unions, Jeevan Shanti Union, has already demanded that the LIC consider reserving houses for its own employees in this township.
It is noble of LIC to come up with a policy holder housing scheme. But employees who have worked with the LIC for years should also be considered just the way the RBI and ONGC makes provisions for its employees for its land, said Jitendra Janwale, Secretary of the union.
A lot of employees cannot afford a house today and live on rent in the city. Such a provision will surely help them, he reasoned. The union has now submitted its demand to the executive director (estate) of LIC in Mumbai. The executive director has given us an assurance and said that our request will be looked at, concluded Janawale.
The 83-acre plot near Shanti Ashram in Borivli, where the housing project will be constructed