Chandigarh admn proposes ₹500 rent hike for ground floors of flats under ARHC scheme

The committee held its meeting under the chairpersonship of Chandigarh advisor Dharampal, who said one of the allottees went to the Punjab and Haryana high court raising the issue of the rent of all three floors being the same. The court had directed the UT to look into the matter.

The state monitoring committee of UT administration on Monday proposed an increase in the monthly rental from ₹3,000 to ₹3,500 for the ground floor of small flats at Maloya provided under the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) scheme.

The state monitoring committee of UT administration on Monday proposed an increase in the monthly rental from ₹3,000 to ₹3,500 for the ground floor of small flats at Maloya provided under the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) scheme. (HT File)

The committee held its meeting under the chairpersonship of UT advisor Dharampal, who said one of the allottees went to the Punjab and Haryana high court raising the issue of the rent of all three floors being the same. The court had directed the UT to look into the matter.

“We held a meeting today and proposed to increase the rent of the ground floor by ₹500 per month, while the rent of the first and second floor will remain the same, which is ₹3000 only,” Dharampal said.

In 2020, the UT administration had rented out 2,000 small flats constructed by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) in Maloya to residents of prefab shelters in Sector 52 and Sector 56 under the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) scheme by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The administration had signed an MoU with the ministry to rent out these flats under the scheme, which was implemented by the CHB through a concessionaire to be appointed through the bidding process.

The Ministry had launched the scheme to provide ease of living, and access to dignified and planned housing at an affordable rent to migrant labour and urban poor. The scheme was implemented by utilising existing vacant houses to convert them into ARHCs. The scheme was to help urban migrants, who stay in slums, informal settlements, unauthorised colonies and peri-urban areas to save cost on housing. Beneficiaries for the scheme are urban migrants and poor from the economically weaker sections (EWS) or low-income group (LIG) categories.