Cabinet for ‘relaxed’ norms to bail out illegal colonies

The notification,in its present form,can help only 10 per cent of the nearly 3,500 illegal colonies to get a legal tag. Following opposition of several ministers to the norms,the notification will now go to the Cabinet only after they are relaxed by the state’s housing and urban development department.

The changed norms may mean colonies,which do not comply with the minimum specifications in terms of infrastructure,road width and civic amenities,will also get a legal stamp.

Secretary,Housing and Urban Development,Dr S S Sandhu said the notification would come up before the Cabinet after the norms were redrafted. Last month,in a bid to check the haphazard growth in the state,Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had announced that his government would soon amend the Punjab Apartment Property Regulation (PAPR) Act 1995 to insert stringent provisions of law to deter builders from indulging in the construction of unauthorised colonies.

The CM was responding to the demand of the Punjab unit of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI).

CREDAI,which had later issued half-page advertisements thanking the government for concessions offered to the sector,blames the mushrooming of illegal colonies on “unrealistic” hike in external development charge (EDC),licence fee and change of land use (CLU) charges effected in 2007,a year that also witnessed a slowdown of demand in real estate across the country.

CREDAI member Anil Chopra of PPR Infrastructure said: “The charges went up ten-fold in just one go. The EDC for high-potential areas such as Amritsar,Ludhiana,Jalandhar and Mohali jumped from Rs 3.5 lakh an acre to Rs 35 lakh an acre. The unreasonable rates and complicated process also prove to be a deterrent for planned development. Cities in Punjab cannot be compared with Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana,which have seen tremendous real estate growth due to their location in the National Capital Region (NCR).”

He added: “The EDC has been now slashed by almost half in Amritsar,Ludhiana,Jalandhar and by 20 per cent in Mohali.

Also,speedy power connections from the Punjab State Power Corporation and time-bound no-objection certificates (NOCs) from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and the forest department will give the much-needed boost to the housing sector. Several colonies in the state,mainly in Ludhiana,Jalandhar,Zirakpur and Nayagoan in Mohali do not even have a 10-metre wide road and have been found lacking in proper sanitation,water supply and other infrastructure. They lure buyers with cheaper rates by not paying EDC and licence fee to the government.

The one-time settlement offer will help to stem the rot of further illegal constructions in the state.”

After the one-year moratorium offered to developers in the view of the economic slowdown,Punjab has asked them to pay the pending instalments by August 1 this year. “Most builders have till now paid the first instalment of EDC only. The charges have been slashed to make housing affordable for buyers,and builders have to pass on the benefit of lower rates to them,” said Sandhu.

The department,which has now prepared masterplans for more than 100 towns and cities,says all future growth in the state will be planned. In areas where already unplanned construction has come up,efforts would be made at least to preserve the green belt,Sandhu said.