Tepid response to conversion policy

Chandigarh, April 21

The conversion policy announced by the Chandigarh Administration has failed to serve its purpose as few people have shown interest in getting their residential properties converted from leasehold to freehold due to high conversion fee.

Notably, only 20 resident have has come forward to avail the scheme, which was announced with much fanfare by city MP Kirron Kher in September 2017. Sources said only six persons had so far applied for the conversion at the Estate Office. The administration had notified new conversion rates on October 25, 2017. Since then, the Chandigarh Housing Board has processed on 14 cases for conversion.

There are 25,000 CHB flats besides 10,000 residential properties of the Estate Office on lease. Rajan Sharma, a resident of Sector 44, said nobody would apply for the conversion if the rates were not decreased. The conversion fee for a CHB flat have been fixed from 2,11,800 to Rs 5,27,100. —TNS