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The Haryana state government has suspended the Deen Dayal Jan Awas Yojna (DDJAY) scheme, which aimed to provide affordable plotted housing to low- and middle-income families in Gurgaon and Faridabad, due to high land costs and lack of benefit for the target demographic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the DDJAY scheme in Haryana in November 2016 to address the problem of unauthorised colonies while offering affordable housing options to low- and middle-income families. However, the state government has suspended the scheme in the two cities due to the high cost of land and concerns that it has failed to meet the objective of providing affordable homes to the target demographic.
The suspension of the scheme was ordered by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during a recent meeting with senior officials of the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP). In the meeting, Khattar expressed his concerns over the high prices of the affordable housing units in Gurgaon and Faridabad. He stated that the purpose of the DDJAY scheme was to provide affordable homes, but the high cost of land in these cities had defeated the entire purpose of the initiative. According to DTCP data, around 60 licenses were issued under DDJAY in Gurgaon and 40 licenses in Faridabad, covering around 600 acres of land and 400 acres of land, respectively, since the launch of the scheme.
Apart from the cost of land, experts suggest that another loophole in the policy is the absence of a cap on the rates. Unlike high-rise affordable projects, the per square feet rate is not fixed by the state government for DDJAY, which results in high selling prices. They state that DDJAY is more beneficial for realtors as profit margins are high compared to high-rise affordable housing projects. Furthermore, high-rise projects require construction costs, which is not the case in the plotted housing scheme, but plots are costing in crores compared to the fixed price of affordable flats which are under INR 26 lakhs, making them unaffordable for the common man.
To promote the DDJAY scheme, the state government had announced that the developers who launched projects under DDJAY would no longer be required to freeze 50% of the plots in August last year. However, they would need to mortgage only 10% of the project land to the DTCP as security for external or internal development charges. Despite this move, the scheme's suspension due to high land costs and lack of benefit for the target demographic suggests a significant setback to the initiative.
In conclusion, the temporary suspension of the DDJAY scheme in Gurgaon and Faridabad highlights the challenges that the state government faces in addressing the problem of unauthorised colonies while providing affordable housing options to the low- and middle-income families. The high cost of land and the absence of a rate cap for affordable plotted housing have made the scheme unaffordable for the target demographic, making it more beneficial for realtors. The state government may need to consider revising the DDJAY scheme to address these challenges and ensure that it meets its objectives of providing affordable housing to the low- and middle-income families.
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