Letters: Disappointing news

Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister M Venkaiah Naidu’s statement that not a single proposal for developing affordable housing received by his ministry was satisfactory is disappointing news. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to help the poor and middle classes, who do not have houses of their own, have come to naught. One month has passed since the Budget notified a slew of incentives for developers. Yet there are no takers for the affordable housing scheme.

The Budget allocated higher investment for affordable housing and accorded infrastructure status to the project. The latter step should enable this project to enjoy the associated benefits. It is also in line with the election manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party to provide houses to all by 2022. This has been emphasised in each Budget of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre. To this, Budget 2017 added the notification that 10 million houses would be built for the poor by 2019. 

Builders and developers must take advantage of the incentives available for this project and embark on building low-cost houses. The ambit of the scheme has been widened to cover people with an annual income of up to Rs 18 lakh. Modi had also announced sops. 

However, the situation is different now. Developers and builders are trying to liquidate inventory to pay off debts. Instead, they should convert the unsold inventory into affordable units, especially those projects that are under construction.

The government should permit such a conversion; this might help builders make up for their financial crunch. Land should be made available to them for free.  

A Sathyanarayana   New Delhi

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