New Delhi: To ensure effective implementation of the central government’s ambitious project to provide housing for all by 2022, the Rajasthan government has launched a project by the name of Jan Awas Yojana to focus on housing for economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income groups (LIG).
“The new policy is essentially complementary to the government of India’s policy. The central government policy talks about four different verticals and affordable housing through developers is one of the verticals. This policy is looking to comply with the central government policy on housing for all,” said Ashok Jain, additional chief secretary, urban development, Rajasthan.
The new policy, launched by chief minister Vasundhara Raje on 26 September, offers incentives to developers to construct EWS and LIG housing on private and government land. Through this the government aims to focus on construction of houses in cities with a population of 1 lakh and above. There are 13 such cities in Rajasthan.
“While it has only been a short time, we have been receiving a positive response from developers. People are coming forward. As per my own feedback, developers are interested in taking on projects through this policy,” Jain said.
The policy has incentives for private developers. “We have given developers non-cash incentives and revenue forgone incentives in the new policy. We have also introduced waivers of approval charges and have also increased the floor area ratio, ground covering and higher height limits,” Jain said.
The new policy is essentially a revamp of the policy of 2009. It was prepared after incorporating feedback from various stakeholders and elements of policy initiatives of the central government.
“One of the roadblocks in the previous policy was that the entire process of allotment was done by a central authority. Payments were also taken by the local authorities and then transferred to the developers. In the new policy, we have removed this roadblock. Now both allotment and payment are done by the developers,” Jain said.
In Rajasthan, the shortage of urban housing was estimated to be 1.05 million by a technical group on housing shortage constituted by the central government. Of this, more than 85% is in the EWS and LIG category.
The central mission for housing for all by 2022 was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June and is aimed at providing homes to 20 million people.
