Hand-over of Central land in Mumbai for housing discussed at WZC meeting

The Western Zonal Council (WZC) meeting on Thursday, chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, could not resolve the issue of transfer of excess land held by Central organisations in Mumbai for affordable housing. The meeting resolved 14 out of 16 issues on its agenda, an official said. "Of the two issues that remained unresolved, one was about making available the surplus lands of various Central Government organisations for 'Housing for All: 2022' (mission)," R Buhril, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs for Inter-State Council, told reporters. To meet the goal of housing for all by 2022, a large number of houses are required to be built in Mumbai, where land availability is a problem, he said. "Union government departments and ministries hold vast tracts of land in Mumbai. The Maharashtra government asked the departments like Commerce, Railways to hand over their surplus land to the state government for affordable housing," he said. However, as the issue is complex, it could not be resolved in the meeting, he said. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani, Ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and the Administrator of the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli participated in the meeting along with Central officials. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli are members of Western Zonal Council.