The State Housing and Urban Development Minister, Pritam Singh Panwar, has directed the officials concerned to take steps to increase the size of the land bank. Reviewing the work of various regulatory authorities here on Friday, the Minister said that the State administration has initiated a one-time settlement (voluntary compounding) scheme for areas under the purview of development authority/special area authority regulated area.
He pointed out that in cases dating back to before State formation which are still pending redress under the regulations of the authorities and hence not compounded at that time, the public was not interested in compounding because of the circle rates being applied. The State had started the voluntary compounding scheme through one-time settlement for such cases. Panwar directed officials to publicise this scheme through various media in addition to holding camps in various areas with cooperation from the MlAs and urban local bodies. He said that officials should ensure that the maximum number of people benefit from this scheme.
The policy for allotment of homes and plots for economically weaker section (EWS) and the number of such units were also discussed in the meeting. The Minister was also informed about the number of EWS units approved under the projects at present and the developers who had not had EWS units approved. The Minister directed the Urban Development Secretary to ensure verification of layout of land for EWS in regulated areas and to take stringent action against officials unable to ensure observance of rules in the regulated areas.
Secretary, Urban Development, Dhiraj Garbyal said that the State Authority is fully responsible for implementing this scheme. Action will be taken in case of anomalies at any level, he averred. Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) vice-chairman R Meenakshi Sundaram, additional secretary, Housing, Dr V Shanmugam, secretary HRDA Nidhi Yadav, Uttarakhand Housing and Development Authority and MDDA secretary Banshidhar Tiwari, among others, were present in the meeting.