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Chandigarh: Sector 53 housing scheme caught in bureaucratic delays despite high demand
It has been a month since the demand survey concluded on March 3, during which as many as 7,468 applicants registered interest for the 372 flats on offer across three categories
The highly anticipated General Housing Scheme in Sector 53 by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has become yet another victim of bureaucratic delays, leaving thousands of hopeful applicants in uncertainty.
Despite a promising response to the demand survey, the scheme remains entangled in unexplained administrative hurdles, with no clear timeline for its launch. As a result, applicants relying on CHB for affordable housing are caught in a frustrating wait, with their deposited fees also stuck in limbo.
It has been a month since the demand survey concluded on March 3, during which as many as 7,468 applicants registered interest for the 372 flats on offer across three categories.
The demand survey was conducted on the directions of UT chief secretary Rajeev Verma, who is also the chairman of CHB, after board officers gave a presentation for the scheme’s revival on January 17. As the board had last conducted a similar survey only in 2018, they were asked to conduct one afresh.
However, CHB officials have yet to submit the survey results to the chairman, effectively stalling the process.
Meanwhile, applicants have already paid ₹10,000 for High-Income Group (HIG) and Middle-Income Group (MIG) flats, and ₹5,000 for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) flats to confirm their interest.
Under the survey, as many as 5,081 applications came in for 192 three-bedroom HIG units, while 1,269 people applied for 100 two-bedroom MIG units. Even the EWS category, with 80 flats, received 1,118 applications.
Although the project includes a total of 492 flats, CHB has proposed to construct only 372, with the remaining one-bedroom flats, already incorporated into the layout plan, planned for a later phase.
Despite the high response in the survey, CHB chief executive officer (CEO) Ajay Chagti directed the engineering department to reduce the number of EWS flats, citing “low demand”.
However, the engineering department has responded that under the Chandigarh Building Rules (CBR), 15% of the total flats must be allocated for EWS housing — translating into 80 out of the 492 flats planned.
Additionally, the department has clarified that any reduction will require revising the entire plan and securing fresh approvals from RERA and the Pollution Control Board, a process that could take five to six months, delaying the project further.
When contacted about the scheme’s progress, Chagti said the scheme will be placed again before the CHB Board of Directors in an upcoming meeting.
However, going by past trends, the meeting is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
The board’s most recent meeting took place on February 27, a staggering 20 months after its last meeting in May 2023, reflecting the board’s lack of urgency.
Notably, the 7,468 applications for 372 flats are in stark contrast to only 178 applications for 492 flats when the scheme was first floated in 2018, reflecting the growing demand for housing in Chandigarh.
The low response then, primarily due to steep prices, had ultimately led to the scheme getting dropped. In 2018, the three-bedroom flat was offered for as high as ₹1.8 crore, two-bedroom flat for ₹1.5 crore and one-bedroom flat for ₹95 lakh.
Owing to the exorbitant rates, the response was lacklustre, forcing the board to scrap the scheme. Struggling to justify its existence, the board revived the scheme in February 2023 with lower prices— ₹1.65 crore, ₹1.40 crore and ₹55 lakh, respectively, for three-bedroom, two-bedroom and two-bedroom EWS flats.
However, former UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit put the scheme on hold on August 3, 2023, citing there was no requirement for it.
Consequently, CHB had cancelled the ₹200-crore tenders floated on August 2 for the construction of 340 flats on nine acres.
But hopes for the scheme’s revival were rekindled after Purohit’s successor Gulab Chand Kataria, in November 2024, instructed CHB to submit an updated presentation, leading to the fresh demand survey.
