NEW DELHI: The Centre is mulling redevelopment of General Pool Residential Accommodations (GPRA) colonies at 50 locations across the country. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) held a meeting of officials on Friday to discuss framing of proposals for redevelopment and review the details such as number of existing dwelling units, area and unutilised floor area ratio.
All special director generals (SDGs) and additional director generals (ADGs) were asked to send details of Central government settlements and land available for the proposed construction under their jurisdiction with their year of construction and dilapidated state of the structures, said officials in the know of the matter.
The shortage of official accommodations for government employees, particularly in the national capital, has been a matter of concern for the authorities and the Central Government for years. Eligible officials have to wait to get an accommodation for a long time. To streamline allotment in a transparent manner, the MoHUA has launched the ‘e-sampada’ portal as well as a mobile application in 2020.
According to the portal, there are more than one lakh residential units in 347 GPRA colonies in 61 cities.
Crumbling state of some of the properties is another concern for the Government hence their redevelopment is being planned. Thus, the ministry initiated proposal to revamp existing old dilapidated housing colonies — East Kidwai Nagar, New Moti Bagh, Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Thyagraj Nagar, Srinivaspuri and Mohammadpur through National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) and CPWD in New Delhi.
The idea is to augment the housing stock by making optimum utilisation of land resources and using state-of-the-art construction tech with green building norms and in-house solid and liquid waste management facilities, said the ministry. Meanwhile, the CPWD has instructed all units to take up ‘urgent and proactive steps’ to get ‘unsafe’ or ‘dangerous houses’ vacated and also initiate their renovation on top priority basis.
Optimum use of land resources
The shortage of official accommodations for government employees, particularly in the national capital, has been a matter of concern for the authorities and the Central Government for years
Over 1 lakh residential units in 347 GPRA colonies in 61 cities
The idea is to augment the housing stock by making optimum utilisation of land resources and using state-of-the-art construction technology with green building norms and in-house solid and liquid waste management facilities, said the ministry