Haryana needs to do more for its housing needs

HARYANA has been the topper in terms of per capita income among major states of the country for several years in a row. This achievement is expected to equip the state with resources to address the basic needs of people, such as pucca houses for all. However, a large number of households in the state are without a proper shelter. According to the state authorities, 1.25 lakh households in rural Haryana need to be provided with a house. Besides, there are more than 3 lakh slum households which constitute about 2.5% of the total population of the state. As the problem of houselessness is spread all over the country, the Central government has announced a flagship programme, ‘Housing for All’, and launched two schemes, namely, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) and (Rural) for providing shelter to the houseless by 2022. The funding support to the states under the PMAY has accordingly been enhanced by the Centre.

Several states have adopted a proactive approach like marking of land for house construction, distribution of house site pattas, providing additional financial support to the beneficiaries from state resources, tying up financial support from the banks and other financial institutions etc. It is also a fact that any investment in the housing sector not only brings joy to the houseless but also creates huge employment, besides providing social protection to such vulnerable people.

Haryana is largely an urban state having many parts of it in the National Capital Region (NCR). It has also evolved as an industrial state.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has sanctioned about 1.80 lakh houses under the PMAY (Urban) with a financial assistance of Rs 2,700 crore to Haryana but the state could not make much progress due to the following reasons: (a) Approval of housing projects is a very cumbersome process in the state. More than 350 signatures are required at various levels from pre-construction stage till the completion of the project. Hence, a single-window system with a time-bound automated approval system is the need of the hour which has no human intervention; (b) There is an acute shortage of land for housing in the state. Hence, mapping of land available with the Central and state government agencies is urgently required for constructing houses on the excess land available with them; (c) There is a need for policy change to regularise Lal Dora lands to make them available for formal affordable housing; (d) Demand survey in eight urban local bodies (ULBs) that have been newly formed in the state should be taken immediately to know the housing shortage in them.

Under urban housing, the Centre provides about Rs 1.5 lakh per house, which is not sufficient for having a reasonable dwelling unit. Most poor persons are not able to spare much money over and above it for construction of their house. Hence, the state needs to work closely with large public sector banks to develop housing loan products, especially for the economically weaker sections (EWS) to improve their access to micro housing finance. Besides, the existing process of issuing the licences for housing projects is very cumbersome and time taking which needs to be eased to attract the housing companies in the state.

Development of infrastructure in the housing colonies/complexes faces unending delay. Though the external development charges (EDC) are being paid by the colonisers while obtaining licences, timely facilities are not being made available to them. There are many housing complexes in the state where the facilities have not still been provided for more than ten years even though they had paid the external development charges to the state agency. This has created a lot of negative impression. Hence, the state should think of providing sufficient budget for this purpose, at least for those housing complexes which have already been completed and occupied and in future the state may consider developing such infrastructure in clusters and accordingly issue the licences only in such clusters for the construction of houses.

Another important step in providing safe shelter to the needy is the mapping of all vacant houses in the state constructed by the government under any scheme. It is learnt that around 6,000 houses constructed by the Haryana Housing Board are still lying vacant. Apart from this, there may be many more houses lying vacant which were constructed with the support of public funds. All such houses may be converted into Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) through public or private entities. Even such vacant houses may be mapped with industrial estates to provide safe and affordable dwelling to the industrial workers which will definitely go a long way in continuing the momentum of industrial production. The Centre is also providing incentives for construction of ARHCs by private entities in the state on their own vacant land, such as additional FAR (floor area ratio)/FSI (floor space index), income tax and GST exemption, project finance at a low interest rate, trunk infrastructure till project site and municipal services at residential rates.

Under the PMAY (Rural), the Centre had allotted about 21,000 houses to Haryana as per the Socio Economic and Caste Census-2011. Haryana has been demanding sanction of more houses in the rural areas which is expected to be around 1.25 lakh. Hence, either the state takes up this issue with the Centre more vigorously and get a special project sanctioned or fund it from its own resources as the welfare of such vulnerable people is definitely a responsibility of the state.

The state has created the ‘Department of Housing for All’ to bring dedicated focus on housing needs in the state as many government agencies were involved in the construction of houses for various sections. The new department is expected to act as a nodal agency. But it needs to be seen in future how effective this newly created department would be to bring better coordination within various agencies in the state as well as with the Central government to solve the problem of housing shortage in Haryana.

Views are personal