Some disquieting facts came to light in a policy dialogue held a few weeks ago in Dehradun, where a preliminary assessment of the housing shortage in Uttarakhand was discussed. It was estimated that over seven lakhs people in the state were living in sub optimal housing, mostly on encroached or unauthorised land, and some of the locations were also quite unsafe as they were on river banks, or in ecologically fragile areas.
In an interaction with Indian Masterminds, former Director of LBSNAA, retired IAS officer of 1985 batch Dr Sanjeev Chopra, who settled down in Dehradun after retirement, said that although it was clear that many of the occupants would need to depend on social housing with affordable rents as well as options like dormitories, but at least 50 percent of those living in these dwellings were in a position to afford a one room BHK, provided the costs were reasonable and the payment spread out over a long tenure, say 15-20 years. He also briefly outlined how the state government can help in this regard.
PROVIDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING A CHALLENGE
Dr Chopra said that even though it is clear that Uttarakhand will be able to address the issue of poverty alleviation for all its citizens before it turns 25, the more formidable challenge will be that of affordable housing in the urban centres of Dehradun, Haridwar and US Nagar.
“The reason is that the housing stock, in addition to the backlog of shortages, is not keeping pace with the growing economic opportunities in these urban centres,” he said.
He suggested that the state should replicate the Light House Challenge Projects being implemented in Agartala (Tripura), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu).
UTTARAKHAND NOT PART OF LIGHT HOUSE CHALLENGE
Light House Projects are being built as part of the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India initiative under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is promoting six Light House Projects (LHPs) as live laboratories for transfer of technology to the field.
“Somehow, the state government could not get Uttarakhand included in the Light House Challenge Project of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, which took up the challenge of building a thousand plus affordable one BHK flats in six cities in different regions of the country – Agartala, Ranchi, Lucknow, Indore, Rajkot and Chennai,” Dr Chopra said.
He explained that the technologies used in each of the LHPs was different, but the bottom line was that the projects had to be completed in one year with a cap of Rs. 13 lakh for each unit. The competitive edge of the LHP is that it is earthquake resistant, environment friendly, durable, and prefabricated with adequate provision for air, light, water, internal roads, pathways, common green area, boundary wall, water supply, sewerage, drainage, rainwater harvesting, solar lighting, and external electrification.
WHAT CAN BE DONE NOW?
According to Dr Chopra, the government of Uttarakhand could perhaps send a team to Agartala, whose topography is closest to Dehradun, as well as to Lucknow (for the US Nagar and Haridwar districts) and see if it would make sense to replicate the projects in three urban centres of the state.
“If the state could take up 25 LHPs each year for the next three years, the housing issue in the state would be more or less settled,” he said.
He added that it is not necessary that the implementation has to be done by the government directly. In fact, it would be best if an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) could be created – with government or municipal bodies offering the land, co-operatives and banks offering long term finance, CBRI Roorkee offering the technical support and the PMU of SPV ensuring that the timelines are adhered to.
“Maybe, Uttarakhand @25 can also be the first state to set in motion a process which ensures affordable housing for all,” he said in conclusion.
(Dr Sanjeev Chopra is also Distinguished Fellow, USI, New Delhi, Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of GB & I, London, HRA, LMFSAI, Harvard University, Historian, Columnist, and Festival Director, Valley of Words: International Literature & Arts Festival, Dehradun www.valleyofwords.org)
