What is the current status of Maharashtra’s Draft Housing Policy?
After compiling feedback from various stakeholders across the state, including developers, tenants, architects, and self-redevelopment agencies, we made the draft policy publicly available allowing for suggestions and objections and have received an overwhelming response. Following a change in government, we decided to present the policy to the new administration to ensure better acceptability and continuity. The policy’s validity will be 10 years, and we’ve incorporated community-centric development principles.
We’re also exploring innovative approaches to slum rehabilitation and addressing encroachment issues. We’re reserving land for student housing and senior citizen housing and exploring ways to incentivize private developers to set up such communities.
How will the policy benefit Low-Income Groups?
The definition of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) is currently limited to a house area of 300 sqft, with a salary cap of less than 6 lakhs per year in Mumbai and less than 3 lakhs per year outside the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). However, I believe these limits are too low and need to be redefined. While the current definition of EWS only considers the house area, the PMAY-II scheme categorizes houses into EWS, LIG, and Middle-Income Group (MIG), with areas of 300, 600, and 900 sqft, respectively. We’re trying to address this issue, and our efforts have led to some success in the PMAY scheme.
What measures will ensure transparency in housing projects?
We’re working to create a database of land inventory across the state and a housing portal and integrating data to better plan affordable housing, while partnering with MIDCs and MSRDC to identify land for affordable housing. We also have a unique provision in the DCPR for inclusive housing, offering extra incentive FSI for plots over 4000 sqm, requiring 20% of built-up area to be given to the government at construction rate.
We’re establishing an institutionalized complaint redressal mechanism to address the numerous complaints we receive daily, similar to Apex Grievance Redressal Committee (AGRC), which has been effective in preventing 90% of cases from proceeding to further litigation.
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