Noida authority offers vacant EWS apartments to private firms on rent

NOIDA: The Noida authority has decided to rent out apartments meant for the economically weaker sections (EWS) to private companies, to be used by their employees.

NOIDA: The Noida authority has decided to rent out apartments meant for the economically weaker sections (EWS) to private companies, to be used by their employees. According to officials, the flats have been lying vacant as no EWS category applicants turned up to apply for these.

HT Image

“Since these apartments are vacant, the authority has decided to rent them out to private companies who can accommodate their employees. The aim of this move is revenue generation,” said Praveen Mishra, additional chief executive officer of the Noida authority.

There are 1,280 apartments – 496 two-room apartments while the rest are one-room apartments –located in Sector 122, in this category.

For the two-room apartments, the rent charged will be Rs6,000 for ground floor, Rs5,500 for first floor, Rs5,200 for second floor and Rs5,000 for third floor. Rent for a one-room unit is Rs 3,500 per month, said officials. All units have one or two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen.

The authority had built these apartments in 2016 for EWS category persons living in JJ clusters of sectors 2, 3, 5 and 10; the objective was to shift slum dwellers into apartments and vacate prime land. However, the residents refused to shift into apartments, saying they were happy living in plotted shanties which were closed to where they work, said officials.

Private companies eligible to apply will be those which pay employees provident funds, said officials. Interested firms can apply on the authority’s website – noidaauthorityonline.in – latest by 6pm on January 21, 2021, said officials.

The authority will take three months’ rent in advance before offering the apartments to the company, added officials.

City residents, meanwhile, welcomed the move, saying these apartments have been lying unused for the past four years.

“The authority should have come up with such a scheme earlier as the structure is in bad condition now. If it is done now then it will help them maintain the building, constructed with public money,” said NP Singh president of Gautam Budh Nagar district development residents’ welfare association (DDRWA), an umbrella body of RWAs.