Pb govt announces scheme to help defaulter allottees

In a bid to to help defaulter allottees of various urban authorities, the Punjab government today announced an amnesty scheme which would provide a one-time settlement of interest to the respective parties.
The decision by Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government is also expected to also boost the real estate sector in the state.
The announcement came after a meeting of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority, Department of Housing and Urban Development here.
The meeting was chaired by the Chief Minister, and attended, among others, by Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The meeting decided, in principle, to provide a one-time opportunity to defaulter allottees of all authorities, according to an official spokesperson.

The rate of interest for settlement of all legal disputes involving property price payment has been finalised at 15 per cent following the chief minister's intervention, who directed the department to lower it further from the proposed 18 per cent.

The scheme would, however, be applicable only to those allottees who are defaulters for less than four years or whose penalty amount is less than 100 per cent of the principal amount, the spokesperson said.
The chief minister also soft-launched the New Punjab Sehri Awas Yojana (PSAY) on the occasion.
The scheme, aimed at providing free or subsidised residential houses to homeless urban poor, was given the go-ahead by the state cabinet on March 18.

Besides providing free housing to eligible homeless SC/BC urban families with an annual income less than Rs 3 lakh in Phase 1 and with an annual income less than Rs 5 lakh in Phase II, the scheme will provide subsidised housing to people in various categories, thus ensuring their social uplift.
The meeting, which followed up and reviewed the progress on various decisions taken at the last meeting, also approved lowering of the annual hike in reserved price, from 10 to 5 per cent, through an amendment to the reserved price fixation policy in order to benefit the urban population.

Thirty per cent reservation to the Scheduled Castes in allotment of property by Punjab Urban Development Authority and various Development Authorities, as per the decision taken by the Cabinet in its meeting held on March 18, was also discussed and approved, said the spokesperson.
Priority will be given to women and senior citizens in this category.
Another initiative discussed at the meeting related to the development of satellite towns around major cities to ease urban pressure.
The chief minister suggested planned development of towns around key cities like Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.
A pilot project will soon be launched to study the feasibility of the proposal, which would encompass land acquisition in a manner that enables land owners to get residential and commercial allotments in the new developed satellite townships as compensation for pooling their land through official partners.

Captain Amarinder also directed the department to make efforts to bring in a world-class science and technology university, focused on IT and Bio Technology, in IT City Mohali.