INRnews - Indian Real Estate News

Speaking in a Housing Ministers National Conference of Housing and Human Settlement at Hyderabad today, Shri Kaul Singh Thakur said that Himachal Pradesh is pre-dominantly a hilly State with a total population of 6.08 millions according to the 2001 census with a rural population of 91.02 percent. There are 57 urban areas in the State of which only the capital town of Shimla falls in the category of Class-I, 6 towns in Class-III, 7 in Class-IV, 17 in Class-V and 26 in Class-VI, he added. He said that growth of urban population from 1971 onwards is much below the growth in the neighbouring States of Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana.

Shri Thakur said that in Himachal every citizen has a roof over his head except in urban areas and that too due to migration of labour for employment opportunities. Still, there are very few slums even in urban areas in the State except along the up-coming industrial estates due to rapid industrial on account of incentives recently granted by Govt. of India under a special package, he added. He said that in the Sate of Himachal Pradesh there was hardly any land available either with the State Govt. or the Urban Local Bodies, and for the development of further housing stock, dependency is by and large on private land which too is scarce because majority of the land in urban areas is forested and is thus not available for housing activity.

He said that Government has encouraged private participation of promoters by the enactment of H.P. Apartment and Property Regulation Act wherein promoters are being registered and being issued licenses for building apartments with a further stipulation of keeping reservations for E.W.S. on cross subsidy basis. He said that H.P. Housing and Urban Development Authority constituted to provide housing is also actively seized of this problem and endeavouring to meet the housing requirement of these categories in a big way.

He said that Himachal Pradesh Government was also seized of the drinking water problem to various urban areas of the State which was not available to the desired extend and it is being subsidized by the State Government so as to make it affordable to its urban population. He further said that in the near future it would be able to frame an optional strategy on this front. He said that even providing basic infrastructure of roads, sewerage, solid water management is quite expensive in this hilly State. However, with the inclusion of capital town of Shimla in the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and three district towns of Mandi, Hamirpur and Dharamsala under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns Programme in beginning has been made to address this problem. He said that State Government has also demanded Rs. 3690 crore from the Central Government to give facelift to Shimla town. On its part of the State Government has allocated Rs. 30 crore in the current year’s annual budget under the Rajiv Gandhi Urban Renewal Mission in which problems in towns would be addressed to its first instance.

Shri Thakur said that Govt. of India has launched Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme from December, 2005 with the objective of providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure to Slum dwellers who do not possess adequate shelter and are living in dilapidated conditions. However, the ceiling cost has been fixed at Rs. 90,000 per unit comprising of built up area of 25 sqm. Keeping in view these factors the ceiling cost of Rs. 90,000 is not sufficient to cater to this requirement and through the aegis of this forum. He requested that this ceiling cost for such like regions be raised to Rs. 2 lacs per unit. He said that there is further an urgent need to expand the limits of existing towns for which colossal funds would be needed in providing infrastructure facilities. He suggested that some scheme be formulated by Govt. of India so as to attract attention to this aspect so that the goal of shelter to all could be achieved. He also said that a sum of Rs. 48.91 crore had been demanded from the Govt. of India for the repayment of housing HGDC loan.