Chandigarh: Kataria greenlights 2 housing schemes stalled by predecessor Purohit
UT administrator directs Chandigarh Housing to ready fresh presentation of Sector 53 project, pursue alternative options to get green clearance for IT Park scheme
In a shift from his predecessor Banwarilal Purohit’s stance, UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has called for a fresh presentation on the stalled Sector 53 housing scheme by December 31, reopening the door for its potential revival.
Kataria’s bold move also extends to Chandigarh Housing Board’s (CHB) another scrapped project — the IT Park housing scheme at Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP) — which was put on hold due to environmental concerns.
Kataria has directed officials to explore alternative options to obtain green clearance for the scheme.
During a recent review meeting, whose minutes have been released now, Kataria also instructed CHB to explore the feasibility of participating in large government tenders for development and construction projects outside Chandigarh.
On August 3 last year, former UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit had put the Sector-53 general housing scheme on hold, citing it was not required at the time. Consequently, CHB had cancelled the ₹200-crore tenders floated on August 2 for construction of 340 flats on nine acres.
The scheme was revived in February last year, five years after it was scrapped in 2018 due to poor response from buyers, attributed primarily to high flat prices.
Under the revived plan, the board had planned to offer 340 flats in three categories — 192 three-bedroom, 100 two-bedroom and 48 two-bedroom EWS flats, for ₹1.65 crore, ₹1.40 crore and ₹55 lakh, respectively.
When the scheme was first floated 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. As a result, the scheme, which was touted as the most expensive public housing project in the city’s history, received only 178 applications against the 492 flats on offer.
As for the IT Park housing scheme, Purohit had halted it in September 2023 amid UT’s struggle in securing environmental clearance.
In October 2022, the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) had refused to approve the scheme, citing that the project site falls within the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary.
The UT administration had subsequently clarified in a written response that the project site is located 1.25 km beyond the ESZ, where construction is permissible, and that the project is approved in the Chandigarh Master Plan-2031. However, no further communication has been received from the ministry.
The 16-acre land for the IT Park project is part of the 123 acres that CHB had retrieved from Parsvnath Developers in 2015 after a long-drawn legal battle.
The housing scheme, comprising 728 flats in three categories, was initially approved by the CHB board of directors in December 2020. It included 28 four-bedroom flats, 448 three-bedroom flats, and 252 two-bedroom flats, planned across two plots measuring 10.51 acres and 6.43 acres, respectively.
Established in 1976, with the primary objective of providing reasonably priced and good quality housing in Chandigarh, CHB had last successfully rolled out a housing scheme in 2016, when it had offered 200 two-bedroom flats in Sector 51 for ₹69 lakh each. With no successful project over the past eight years, the board is struggling to justify its existence.
With no housing scheme coming either in the private or public sector in the city, housing prices have steadily increased, making owning a house out of bounds for most city residents. In the absence of private developers, residents depend solely on CHB for new projects. But it has failed to introduce any housing scheme since 2016.
CHB told to put its house in order
The UT administrator also directed CHB to review its manpower allocations, with a post-wise breakup of technical staff as well as ministerial staff. The action-taken report in this regard has been sought by January 31, 2025.
Performance of newly appointed non-official members of CHB board will be reviewed after one year before extending their term, announced Kataria.
He also directed 100% digitisation of CHB records by December 31 without fail, while asking the CHB CEO to monitor the progress for timely completion. Further, he ordered early resolution of the process to accord approval for lifts in multi-storey houses.
Taking note of dues worth lakhs owed by occupants of small flats, he suggested action, starting from the oldest defaulters with maximum dues. CHB was told to submit the action-taken report by January 15, 2025.