16 years on, Chandigarh admn junks 2008 Employee Housing Scheme

Chandigarh administration has shelves the project saying it’s no longer viable due to rise in land costs; it has agreed to refund earnest money deposited by employees

Over 16 years after launching the Self-Financing Employee Housing Scheme for its employees in 2008, the UT administration has shelved the project due to spike in land costs, shattering the hopes of hundreds of employees, many of whom even died waiting for a flat.

Around 4,000 flats were to be built in Sectors 52, 53 and 56 by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) for government employees as part of the scheme. (HT File)

Citing the project is no more viable, the administration has agreed to refund the earnest money deposited by the applicants.

Around 4,000 flats were to be built in Sectors 52, 53 and 56 by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) for government employees as part of the scheme.

The project comprised 252 3BHK flats with servant quarters, 168 2BHK flats with servant quarters, 3,066 1BHK flats and 444 single-room flats for Group D employees.

A draw of lots was held in 2010, in which 3,930 employees among 7,911 applicants were selected. They had then deposited around ₹57 crore with the CHB under the scheme.

Ever since, the scheme faced one roadblock after another, stalling its progress.

Even after CHB issued registration letters to successful applicants, in 2012, the then UT administrator, Shivraj V Patil, refused land for the scheme in Chandigarh, leading to its scrapping.

Seven years later, employees’ hopes were revived as the central government on January 2, 2019, cleared the scheme, although at prevailing collector rate.

This resulted in a major spike in the flats’ rates due to higher cost of land, prompting the employees to move the Punjab and Haryana high court.

A total of 957 applicants filed a petition, submitting that the price of land had changed from ₹7,920 per square yard to ₹74,131 per square yard, leading to significant rise in the flat rates.

While during the launch of the scheme in 2008, UT offered 3BHK flats for ₹34.70 lakh, 2BHK flats for ₹24.30 lakh, 1BHK flats for ₹13.53 lakh and single-room flats for ₹5.75 lakh; their prices had jumped to ₹2.08 crore; ₹1.85 crore; ₹99 lakh and ₹68 lakh, respectively, a decade later.

Matter already in high court

On the employees’ plea, in May last year, the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the UT administration to come up with a feasible scheme.

In a fresh application, employees expressed their concerns over the time that had elapsed from the date of filing of the petition till now, submitting that with each passing month, the allottees were retiring and a few had even died.

Following this, the administration constituted a committee of senior officers, who reported that the scheme was no longer viable as the cost of the land had multiplied and the increased flat rates had been rejected by UT employees.

In February this year, the administration, in an affidavit filed before the high court, had submitted that it had decided not to go ahead with the housing scheme, as it was not viable now. The court is scheduled to hear the matter again on March 13.

Dr Dharamender Shastri, general secretary, UT Employees Housing Welfare Society, said, “The UT administration is playing with the emotions of employees. What was our fault? We have full faith in the judiciary and are hopeful of getting justice. Already around 100 employees have died fighting the battle with the UT administration.”