Chavan all for scrapping of free housing policy
Mumbai: Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan wants to do away with the free housing policy.
At a breakfast meeting with women journalists on the occasion of International Womens Day at Sahyadri,the state guesthouse,Chavan said the scheme was not sustainable and certainly not beneficial to the people.
To buttress his claim,the CM pointed out the fate of a rehabilitation scheme in Nagpur.An entire village was resettled for the multi-modal international passenger and cargo hub.It was an ideal rehabilitation,people were provided with quality homes.Yet,these were sold off and the original beneficiaries shifted elsewhere, he said.While the scheme was initiated with good intentions,it resulted in the proliferation of slums as people came and settled in slums with the hope of getting a free house.
Talking about the cut-off date for slum rehabilitation schemes,the CM said,It is not practical to keep extending the cut-off date. Days before the state assembly polls,the government had extended the slum cut-off date from 1995 to 2000.The Supreme Court is yet to approve of the states decision.
The present housing problem,said Chavan,was due to the demand and supply gap.People are willing to pay.It would be better if the government implements housing schemes like the Rajiv Awaas Yojana where people pay for their homes.This creates a stake in the asset and is,therefore,less likely to be misused, he said.Admitting that it would not be possible to do away with the free housing scheme overnight,Chavan said,It will have to be debated on and a consensus built.
A Jockin,Magsaysay award winner,said his organization has been advocating that people be asked to invest,either in cash or in kind,in housing projects.Get rid of the free housing concept.Anything free is not valued.In almost every SRA scheme,50% of the eligible names are bogus, he said.
Govt wants a big slice of redevelopment pie
The state government must unlock the value of land and the returns must come to the government so that it can implement schemes to create affordable housing,said chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.We need to monetize land and bring in competition, he said on Tuesday.Talking about the Dharavi Redevelopment project,Chavan said the state government,instead of handing over the scheme to a developer,could appoint a contractor to build houses for project-affected persons (PAPs).The land freed could then be auctioned off to the highest bidder as is being done in case of the Bandra-Kurla Complex.If 9,000 people are to be rehabilitated,it may perhaps need eight hectares of land.At the same time,it would result in six hectares of land being freed.If the state were to give the land for rehabilitation,it would fetch the government around Rs 1,800 crore.But if the government auctions the land,it could earn Rs 22,000 crore, he said.The huge profits had resulted in a non-transparent system where the state did not gain.The need is to create a transparent system using technology where people can view online the status of a project and whether or not the requisite permissions have been obtained.The returns can be used to create affordable housing, he said.TNN