Bureaucratic delays, corruption mar housing projects for poor in Gurugram
Gurugram: In 2013, the Haryana government decided to launch several affordable housing projects in Gurugram to accommodate its poor. Corruption and bureaucratic delays, however, have derailed the projects owing to which the poor have to still live in illegal colonies and slums.
Recently, the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA) Chief KK Khandelwal highlighted that how builders in connivance with the brokers are not adhering to the laid norms. And through various means, they are extracting more money from the economically weaker section groups. For instance, the forms that cost only Rs 1,000, are being sold at Rs 25,000.
Even though 90 per cent of the units have not been constructed on the basis of extreme shortage, the greater amount is being charged than what has been prescribed. Based on the government rules, those units that will be built in the city centre will be sold at 4,000 rupees per square feet while in Sohna the rates of flats for the poor will be Rs 2,000 per square feet.
Even though brokers are not allowed in these projects, they are being used by the builders. A windfall profit is also being made by the builders by charging the external development charge (EDC) which is not allowed. With the complaints of irregularities rising, the HRERA has stepped in and has taken measures to ensure more transparency in the process. It has been announced that the all the forms will now be available in the government offices. Stern warnings have again been given to the builders by HRERA to not fleece the probable home buyers.
The housing projects in Gurugram if implemented can accommodate up to 50,000 families, yet among the 54 projects only one has been completed. 37 projects are undergoing construction and 16 have not been started as yet.
The failure of Aashian housing scheme is again an example of how long bureaucratic procedures are also hampering affordable home projects for the poor.
Set up in 2011, the housing project was supposed to provide 1,080 flats under the EWS category. Yet, in the seventh year of its completion, there has not been a single occupant of the flats. The poor condition of the flats is only increasing the maintenance costs of cash strapped Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).
According to sources, even though there have been huge demands for the flats, the HUDA officials are not finding the right mechanism to identify the right buyer under the EWS category.
There is a concern among the officials that most of the people can fake themselves as fake buyers under the EWS category, buy the flats and later they can sell them in higher price. The failure of HUDA in devising the right mechanism has drawn huge criticism.
