CHANDIGARH: The 55-year-old govt housing giant, the Housing Board Haryana, on Friday finally became history as the Haryana Assembly approved its merger into Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) amidst symbolic objections by opposition leaders from Congress.
All this happened during the first sitting of the Budget session of the Assembly when CM Nayab Singh Saini, who also was the minister in-charge, moved the govt resolution for the merger in the House. Saini said that the functions of the Housing Board Haryana and HSVP were largely identical, and assured that the interests of all employees of the Housing Board Haryana were fully safeguarded. Notably, for the past 2 years, the govt worked on the merger, and the cabinet already gave the go-ahead for it.
Having come into being on May 18, 1971, the Housing Board was key to providing affordable housing for a cross-section of society. So far, it had an inventory of over 2 lakh residential dwelling units in various estates created by it in 22 districts in their urban and suburban areas. While the inventory of leftover land stock of the Housing Board is yet to be finalised, it is learnt that as of now, the Board’s ongoing projects of affordable housing are in progress in Gurugram, Taraori and Faridabad.
“This is really shocking to hear about the merger of the Housing Board into HSVP. The board was a hope for a cross-section of residents for its affordable and flexible housing, while HSVP is now a profit-mongering body due to auctions. I am one of the beneficiaries of the initial days of the Housing Board housing scheme. The govt must reconsider its move,” said Dr Raghubir Singh Kadia, former Speaker and Congress MLA from Beri Assembly constituency.
Haryana Housing Board came into existence during the year 1971 with the enactment of the Haryana Housing Board Act of 1971. The Act was published in the extraordinary gazette of the State Govt dated May 18, 1971. The primary purpose of the constitution of the Board is to undertake work in any area within the jurisdiction of the State Govt of Haryana for housing schemes.
The Board was created to provide housing schemes for socially and economically weaker sections of society. Since inception in 1971, the Board constructed 95,969 houses of different categories, out of which 75% (72,044) were constructed for the BPL/EWS/LIG category.
