7 years after announcement, housing scheme yet to give any flats to poor

Gurugram: For a city amassing over 20 lakh people, various central and state schemes are being initiated for providing affordable housing in the region. However, most of these initiatives are not yielding the desired results. For example, the Aashiana housing scheme at Sector 47 near Sohna road has been a failure.

Set up in 2011, the housing project was to provide 1080 flats under the EWS category. Yet, into the seventh year of its completion, there has not been a single occupant of the flats. The poor condition of the flats is only adding to the maintenance costs of cash-strapped Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

Moreover, being situated near Sohna road that has emerged as one of the prime commercial spots in the NCR, the property rates have also spiked. However, there are assurances made by the public officials that the flats will be for sale at a nominal price of Rs three to four lakhs.

According to sources, the HUDA officials have been unable to find the right mechanism for identifying the right buyer under the EWS category amid huge demands for the flats.

There is a sense of concern among the officials that most of them can imitate as fake buyers under the EWS category, buy the flats and then sell them demanding a higher price. The failure of HUDA in incorporating the right mechanism has resulted in huge criticism.

Gurugram may boast of residential societies that touch the highest prices in the country but in a city where the population is 25 lakhs and growing, affordable housing is still a dream with the state government committed to make affordable housing a reality in the city besides central schemes.

To address the challenge, the government had brought in a number of schemes but they didn't work out as planned. Among the schemes, there was a housing society on the lines of the DDA where 25,000 units of flats were to be delivered in places of Sohna, Manesar and Gurugram. However, even this plan of the government was not carried out.

Another initiative of the government that has failed is the plan for reasonable community housing. An area of 190 acres was earmarked by the government where 33 residential colonies were proposed to be set up. The residential units in these colonies were planned to be sold at Rs 4400 per square feet. However, there have been no real estate players that have participated in this project of the government.