Chandigarh Housing Board plans to withdraw Sector 53 housing scheme for third time

Scrapped twice earlier, the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) again plans to withdraw the general housing scheme in Sector 53 despite conducting two demand surveys. However, a final decision will be taken on the discontinuation of the scheme in a meeting of the Board of Directors of the CHB scheduled for Wednesday.

After nearly a decade, the CHB had planned to relaunch the general housing scheme in Sector 53 after Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria approved the project.

In August 2023, then Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit had scrapped the scheme, calling it unnecessary. Consequently, the CHB had cancelled the Rs 200-crore tenders floated on August 2, 2023, for the construction of 372 flats on nine acres.

However, his successor Gulab Chand Kataria revived it in November 2024. In July 2025, the CHB started the process to launch the scheme and proposed 192 HIG units, 100 MIG flats and 80 EWS flats on nearly 9 acres. In a meeting held on September 11, 2025, the Administrator issued directions to the Chief Architect to explore ways to divide 8.975 acres of land into two pockets as per the existing norms, which could be sold by the CHB as group housing sites.

The Administrator directed the Chief Architect to further explore the possibility of enhancing the floor area ratio (FAR), building height, density etc, to make the scheme financially viable for the EWS category. The Chief Architect was to apprise the authorities about the feasible options other than group housing available under the Master Plan to sell the land.

In view of the meeting held on September 11, 2025, under the Chairmanship of the Administrator, the matter will be placed before the Board of Directors for approval for discontinuation of the scheme tomorrow.

The CHB had received an overwhelming response to the demand survey completed in March last year for the proposed scheme. The CHB received 7,468 applications for only 372 flats — nearly 20 applicants per unit — indicating a strong demand for CHB housing.

The housing scheme in Sector 53 has been derailed several times for nearly a decade. First proposed in 2018, the scheme received just 178 applications for 492 flats, primarily due to high prices — Rs 1.8 crore for a three-bedroom, Rs 1.5 crore for a two-bedroom and Rs 95 lakh for a one-bedroom unit — forcing the CHB to withdraw the scheme.

The last CHB scheme was floated in 2016 for 200 two-bedroom flats in Sector 51.

The issue of waiving the lock-in-period condition from 10 years to five years for 200 two-bedroom flats under Self Financing Housing Scheme 2016 in Sector 51-A will also come up for discussion.