Hand-over of Central land in Mumbai for housing discussed at

The Western Zonal Council (WZC) meeting here, chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, today could not resolve the issue of transfer of excess land held by Central organisations in Mumbai for affordable housing.

The meeting resolved 14 out of 16 issues on its agenda, an official said.

"Of the two issues that remained unresolved today, one was about making available the surplus lands of various Central Government organisations for 'Housing for All: 2022' (mission)," R Buhril, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs for Inter-State Council, told reporters.

To meet the goal of housing for all by 2022, a large number of houses are required to be built in Mumbai, where land availability is a problem, he said.

 

"Union government departments and ministries hold vast tracts of land in Mumbai. The Maharashtra government asked the departments like Commerce, Railways to hand over their surplus land to the state government for affordable housing," he said.

However, as the issue is complex, it could not be resolved in the meeting today, he said.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani, Ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and the Administrator of the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli participated in the meeting along with Central officials.

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli are members of Western Zonal Council.

Another unresolved issue was connecting Aadhar for the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes, particularity in the Naxal-affected areas of Maharashtra where there are issues of Internet connectivity, he said, adding the issue will be taken up at the national level.

Speaking to reporters later, Rajnath Singh reiterated the Centre's intention to promote cooperative federalism.

"After our government came to power, we have held ten Council meetings and 15 Standing Committee meetings of all zones. In these meetings, including today's meeting, 653 items have been discussed and 411 of these issues were resolved," Singh said.

The issues that were resolved today included stamp duty on imports, non-signing of Power Purchase Agreements by Maharashtra with renewable energy operators, capacity building for developing Trauma Care facilities, full immunisation coverage, National Aids Control Programme, among others, officials said.