19: Delhi’s First Mahasammelan for Group Housing Societies was held today under the presidency of Rajya Sabha MP and former BJP Delhi President Vijay Goel at Talkatora stadium. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman bestowed the Mahasammelan with her presence as Chief Guest. The Mahasammelan was organised by the Federations of the Group Housing Societies to discuss and address their various issues, including redevelopment.
The Mahasammelan also featured welcoming the pro-development, poor-friendly 2019 Budget which has laid the foundation for New India. BJP National Vice President Shyam Jaju and MP R K Sinha, Parvesh Verma, Ramesh Bidhuri, Meenakshi Lekhi, and Hansraj Hans were among the dignitaries who addressed the gathering.
Addressing the gathering of resident and members of the several housing societies of Delhi, Goel said that post his meeting with Lt. Governor, Anil Baijal had ordered the DDA to begin the survey of all Group Housing Societies in order to amend the policies concerning their redevelopment. The preparatory survey would entail determine the present conditions of societies and flats, plot size, status of civic amenities, and issues faced in converting plots to freehold among other things. More than 10 lakh residents live in 1200 Group Housing societies which demand redevelopment as their conditions have become deplorable in the past forty years.
Goel said the entire redevelopment would be carried out on the self-sustainable model and not a single penny would be charged to the residents. It was decided in meeting with Lt. Governor that the societies would undergo redevelopment if at least 66% of the members demand it. Once decided, the residents would shift to rental homes until the new buildings come up. Since there is no height restriction and Master Plan Delhi-2021 permits additional, incentivized FAR, a 4-storey building would be replaced with 10-storey one. The entire project cost including the rental assistance to residents would be covered by the sale of additional flats.
Goel said the redevelopment of housing societies is another opportunity to turn Delhi into smart cities as the new flats would be equipped with parking facilities, community centres, water harvesting systems and all other amenities that the current flats lack today. Goel encouraged the residents to fight for their issues and asked them to pay taxes only for the services they receive.
Sharing the highlights of the 2019 General Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government aims to provide a roof to every Indian before 2022 and thus to provide affordable housing to poor and middle class, her maiden budget provides tax rebate of Rs 3.5 lakh on home loans of up to Rs 45 lakh. Lampooning the Kejriwal government for not doing any work on the Yamuna, Sitharaman said the waterfront project could have become the biggest attraction of the city. She said her ministry would provide all support to the housing societies in resolving their issues.
Mounting a sharp attack on Delhi Chief Minister, Goel said these societies can be redeveloped but strong decisions are expected from the Kejriwal government which has failed to deliver on all fronts. Goel warned the government officers to act immediately on the issue of redevelopment, else a campaign would be launched against them.
