Allottees may get ownership rights of tenements soon

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 23

Around 12,000 allottees of one-room tenements, located in Sectors 49 and 38 (West), Ramdarbar and Dhanas under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, 2006, are likely to get the ownership rights of their tenements soon.

Assessing the value of the flats, calculated on the basis of the rent of Rs 1,050 being charged per month from the owner of each dwelling unit from the date of allotment, the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) is contemplating fixing the money to be charged from the beneficiaries. The issue is likely to be tabled in the next meeting of the board of members of the CHB.

At present, the scheme mandates that the tenements allotted to them cannot be sold and bought for 20 years from the date of allotment. “Since the beneficiaries are already living in these and paying rent, the CHB has to transfer the ownership rights to them after a certain period,” said a senior official in the CHB.

Almost two years ago, Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister in the UPA government, had inaugurated the scheme by handing over the keys of 8,448 flats as part of the slum-free city project.

In June this year, M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister in the BJP-led NDA government, while inaugurating 1,568 one-room flats constructed under the scheme at Mauli Jagran, had announced an ambitious scheme of “housing for all by 2022”. The purpose was to bring affordable housing and slum rehabilitation projects under one roof.

The UT had earmarked 356 acres for the rehabilitation of slums dwellers on which 25,768 one-room tenements, each comprising a built-up area of 269 sq ft will be constructed. It was decided to allot these tenements on a rental basis instead of a leasehold basis.

Right to sell tenements

The CHB is also contemplating giving the sale rights to the beneficiaries after giving them the ownership rights. The beneficiaries are already selling and buying the flats on the general power of attorney (GPA). The sale and purchase is against the allotment rules. 

Present status of the scheme

The detailed project reports for the construction of 25,728 small flats were approved by the Ministry of Housing  and Urban Poverty Alleviation in three phases: Phase I (6,368 flats), Phase II (10,016 flats) and Phase III (9,344 flats) with a total  provision of Rs 1,021.48 crore. Of   the total 25,728 flats, 12,736 are one-room flats while 12,992 are two-room flats. 

The CHB has already completed the construction of 11,168 one-room flats — Sector 49 (1,024), Sector 38-West (1,120), Ramdarbar (576) and Dhanas (8,448) — which have been handed

over to the beneficiaries. Of the 12,992 two-room flats, the construction of 4,960 small flats at Maloya-I has already been taken up while the construction work on the remaning 8,032  two-room flats is yet to commence.