ROURKELA: The state government has belatedly given in-principal approval for a multi-storied residential apartment project at Basanti Colony in Rourkela which is in grip of a humongous housing crisis. The proposed project will come up on a land parcel of the Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB).
In a letter to the managing director of OSHB on December 2, the Housing & Urban Development (HUD) department informed about the in-principal approval subject to various conditions. The letter stipulates the OSHB for strict adherence to the lease conditions, ensuring the status of land to be encumbrance-free and freehold before implementation.
The letter further states that the chairman appointed by the government would finalise the project layout, drawings, estimates, provisional costing and mode of sale of built-up space as per the 276th board meeting and Rule 4 of the OSHB Act, 1968. The OSHB should also take necessary approval after finalisation of the bidding procedure.
The OSHB has at least three scattered land parcels at Basanti Colony and the letter did not mention specifically which plots would be utilised.
President of OSHB House and Land Owners’ Association Bimal Bisi claimed that in-principal approval was given for two proposals in a single letter on two small patches of land. One proposal is for utilising the entire 0.5 acre having the existing sub-divisional office of the OSHB where a G+8 residential apartment building has been proposed. There is another land parcel of about 0.70 acre of OSHB where another G+8 residential apartment building has been proposed.
In October 19, 2022, then OSHB managing director Sagarika Pattnayak had also spoken about the housing board’s plan to set up an eight-storey building complex with commercial space and residential flats.
While Rourkela city faces an acute scarcity of land and mounting housing crisis, the OSHB in recent decades has not taken up any projects to alleviate the situation. Its plans for these two multi-storied housing projects has been lingering for the last around 13 years either due to technical issues or indecisiveness.