Chandigarh, February 24: The Captain Amarinder Singh ledPunjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new EWS Policy, paving the way forconstruction of more than 25000 houses for the economically weaker sections,with developers and authorities required to develop 5% of project area for EWShousing.
These houses would be constructed in reasonably sizedpockets, along with social infrastructure, such as schools, community centresand dispensaries, at convenient locations to ensure comfortable living for thebeneficiaries. They will be provided access to basic civic amenities.
This decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired byChief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh through video conferencing.
The houses under the new policy would be constructed with the latest brick-lesstechnology, using services of qualified Project Management Agencies (PMAs).They will be offered to eligiblefamilies, who will be financed by banks at affordable monthly instalment rates.
The policy provides for eligible applicants to furnish proofof birth in Punjab or of 10 years’ stay in the state from the date ofapplication, such as Aadhaar card, copy of ration card, extract of voter list,copy of driving license, passport etc. Family income should not be more thanRs.3 lac per annum from all sources, as revised by GoI or Punjab from time totime. The applicant/his spouse/minor child must not already ownfreehold/leasehold residential plot/dwelling unit in Punjab or Chandigarh, andthe applicant would be required to self-certify on these counts.
The applications will be received and verified by theauthorised banks. Only an application for which a Bank provides loan, orapplicant undertakes to make lump sum payment within 40 days of issue of letterof intent, would be considered for allotment through draw or otherwise.Applicant must be married and the application must be in the joint name ofhusband and wife. There will be bar on sale, gift, mortgage with possession,exchange, long lease of the so allotted EWS dwelling units for a period of 15 yearsexcept within the family case of death of allottee.
The government would fix sale price for EWS keeping in viewthe cost of construction of unit, proportionate cost of site development andcommon infrastructure such as school, community centre etc. and administrativecharges such as PMC, advertisement cost, which would not exceed 5% of the totalproject cost. Land cost will be taken as zero and there would be exemption fromEDC on such EWS projects.
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Developers may consolidate their EWS areas in pockets whichmust be at least 1km apart, be it of 12 to 16 acre in size, in residentialzones of SAS Nagar and New Chandigarh Master Plans, on already constructedmaster plan roads, 5 acre to 16 acre on existing roads with minimum 40 feetright of way in case of rest of Punjab, within 4km of their colonies. Apartfrom these, the value of area transferred to government and area reclaimed inthe colony must be same as per collector rates of the two lands.
It is required that area being offered should not be lessthan the area being reclaimed, and all EWS land would be transferred togovernment free of cost. In case of group housing projects, land can besimilarly offered such that EWS houses equal to 10% of the number ofapartments, can be built on 80% area of land offered @80 units per acre.Remaining 20% area will be kept for essential amenities/social infrastructure.Developers who have transferred EWS area of their projects to government incompliance to notification dated December 31, 2013 can also take benefit of itby exchanging land given to government, with such new parcels of lands by wayof mutation.
Notably, in 2013, Cabinet approved a policy that made itmandatory for developers to transfer the EWS pockets free of cost to governmentand accordingly a notification was issued on December 31, 2013. Subsequently,in 2016, the said policy was amended by the Cabinet Committee vide notificationdated May 24, 2016.
Some developers handed over the possession of the EWSpockets to the respective authorities while few, who had obtainedlicenses/approvals prior to 2013-14, went to Punjab and Haryana High Court,against retrospective application of the policy of 2013 and subsequentamendment in the Act in 2014 that demanded free transfer of their EWS areas toconcerned development authority, while their projects had been approvedaccording to the original Act of 1995 under which they could sell the EWS plotsat a sale price that was 15% less than what they would charge from others.
Moreover, there has been general resistance to construct EWShouses within the colonies due to wide variance in life styles necessitated byeconomic status. It was also felt that provision of social infrastructure inlarge number of small sized EWS scattered pockets was extremely difficult. Inview of these limitations and legal issues, virtually no EWS houses have comeup in the state under the government policy. Finally, to address all these issuesand to see that EWS houses are actually built in the state in requisitenumbers, the new policy has been framed in accordance with relevant provisionsof extant law.