Panel formed to roll out affordable housing projects

The department of town and country planning (DTCP) formed a committee on Thursday to speed up the processing of applications under the DeenDayal Jan Awas Yojana (DDJAY). The committee has three people, including the chairman and two other members. The authority has already incorporated amendments to the affordable housing scheme. Since July this year, applications for licences opened in high potential towns such as Gurugram, Faridabad, Panchkula and Pinjore-Kalka. However, processes such as sector-wise analysis, evaluation and approving applications are yet to be done. The state goverment has constituted the Analysis and Evaluation Group (AEG) to carry out this work. The principal secretary of the town and country planning department in Haryan has been selected as the chairman of the committee. DTCP director and chief town planner of Haryana are its two other members. The committee will process all the pending applications by the end of November. In the future, AEG would be expected to process all applications around 60 days before the closing date of the scheme. At least 55 affordable housing projects are coming up on around 310 acres in Gurugram. A total of 46,000 units are at different stages of completion in sectors along Dwarka Expressway and Southern Peripheral Road. Builders have also applied for new licences and at least 3 lakh units are expected to come up on around 380 acres in the district in the near future. In October 2017, Haryana amended its Affordable Housing Policy, 2013, to change the cap on construction of affordable housing projects on 300 acres in the district to 1,935 acres. In a sector, affordable housing can come up on around 15 acres.