NEW DELHI: A parliamentary standing committee has pulled up the Ministry of Urban Affairs for shortage of housing stock for general pool residential accommodation (GPRA).
There has been a persistent shortage despite the fact that actual demand has gone down over the years. Lack of proper planning in executing projects has led to impasse, noted the panel in its report.
Demand for houses has gone down from 98,789 in 2008 to 82,803 in September 2020 and there has been a shortage of 36-37% of GPRA.
“The committee is intrigued by the inability of the directorate of estates/ministry of housing and urban affairs in augmenting the much needed housing stock,” said the report tabled in Parliament.
Directorate of Estate (DoE) is responsible for management and administration of Central government owned residential and official accommodation. Its responsibilities also include maintenance, maintaining housing stock and allotment of houses among others.
While there have been many redevelopment projects for availability of new houses have been going on in New Delhi area, many of the projects have got delayed due to many reasons.
The parliamentary panel found that the delay have been on account of encumbrances pertaining to vacation of schools, markets, community centers, IGL gas pipelines etc, and also due to encroachments.
The delay is also due to replantation of trees and PILs filed in the NGT and High Court.