Haryana suspends costly housing plan in Gurugram, Faridabad

Tribune News Service

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 8

The Deen Dayal Jan Awas Yojana (DDJAY), a scheme introduced by the Haryana Government for providing affordable housing units, has been suspended in Gurugram and Faridabad district for being “unaffordable” to the common man.

Sources said the decision was taken after Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar raised the issue of pricing of these units in the two districts with the departments concerned while pointing out that it defeated the very purpose of the policy to provide “affordable housing”. The sources maintained that the CM took strong objection to the high rates of houses in the two districts that made property beyond the reach of the common man and the fact that there was no cap on the rates even under the scheme. The high cost of land in these two districts has made the cost of plots “prohibitive” under the scheme.

While 62 licences for nearly 695 acres of land have been issued under the DDJAY in Gurugram, 40 licences for nearly 369 acres have already been issued in Faridabad. The letter of intent (LoI) has been granted in 24 projects over 211 acres in Gurugram and four projects spread over 32.66 acres in Faridabad. This is granted before the licence is issued.

According to information, 382 licences were issued till January 2022 for 4,200 acres and 76,500 plots were to be carved out across the state. Sources said the scheme was essentially designed for low and medium potential towns of Haryana. This was later extended to the high-potential towns as well. Subsequently, it was extended even to the hyper potential towns, which include Gurugram and Faridabad.

“The affordable housing scheme was originally designed to check mushrooming of unauthorised colonies in Haryana. It was aimed at providing affordable housing to all. Since the high rates of land make it impossible for any developer to offer these plots at ‘affordable rates’, the government has decided to discontinue the scheme in these two districts following the CM’s directions,” an officer explained.

Sources said to make the scheme affordable, the government, in its policy, had offered concessions and relaxed its norms. “The density per acre was relaxed and concessions were given in the licence fee to bring down the cost per unit. However, it had only a marginal impact on the scheme in the two districts where land cost is prohibitive,” another officer explained. To bring down the cost, the government even explored the possibility of getting these units built over municipal land and proposed a commercial area within the periphery of a project. “This would have made the projects viable for the builder. However, none of these plans reached any conclusion,” said officials.

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