Take very seriously non-occupancy of 25 pc of housing units, Parl panel to HUA

A parliamentary panel said the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry needs to "very seriously" address the problem of non-occupancy of 25 per cent of housing units constructed under three government schemes.

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh are the major states which have the problem of non-occupancy, the parliamentary panel on public undertakings on Housing and Urban Development Corporation said in a report.

"As admitted by the secretary of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation during the course of oral evidence, 25 per cent of houses under these schemes still remain unoccupied," the parliamentary panel said.

The units have been constructed under the three government schemes - Basic Services To Urban Poor, Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The committee reiterated that the problem of non-occupancy of 25 per cent of the units constructed with HUDCO loans needs to be addressed very seriously by the ministry.

They recommended the ministry to ascertain the reason over low occupancy of housing units which may include infrastructural issues.

The committee has recommended the ministry to revisit their policy to explore the measures to have cent per cent occupancy of the housing units and apprise the committee accordingly along with the latest state-wise occupancy details of the action taken.

In its response, the ministry said the reason for non-occupancy has been reported as "non-payment of beneficiary share".