Only 25% of 13.92 L sanctioned dwellings constructed in State

CHENNAI: Despite the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) completing the construction of 3.44 lakh houses against the demand of 13.92 lakh houses in the State (2015-2021), several such dwellings remain vacant due to distance of the site, lack of infrastructure and others, an audit report on housing for the urban poor has revealed.

The report pointed out that, in one project in Kilkadirpur in Kancheepuram, the TNUHDB had completed the construction of 2,112 tenements in September 2020.

The Board had decided to allot them to 931 beneficiaries who had encroached the Vegavathi River and the remaining to the homeless non-slum EWS (economically weaker section) beneficiaries.

“However, the project was constructed at a distance of 11 km (approximately) from the existing settlement and hence the beneficiaries were reluctant to move to the new location.

This resulted in non-occupation of the tenements and postponement of housing benefit to the urban poor living in unhygienic conditions besides causing pollution to the river,” the report said.

The report further noticed that the beneficiary share per tenement of the project was reduced from Rs 2.50 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh in August 2022.

In the consolidated guidelines issued in January 2022, the State government stated that while selecting the land, the distance from the nearest town or source of employment should be considered and the travelling time should not be over 30 min to reach the nearest urban areas.

As many as 1,610 tenements constructed at a cost of Rs 138.72 crore remained vacant for over 2 years from the date of completion leading to idling of investment, the report noted.

Apart from the distance, tenements remained unoccupied due to non-identification of beneficiaries and unaffordable beneficiary contribution, and lack of provision of roads, drinking water, sewerage system and electricity in 3 completed projects involving 696 tenements.

Out of the 43 selected projects for audit, eight projects were completed. Out of these eight projects, one project at Kurumbanchavadi in Ariyalur involving 288 tenements was fully occupied.

However, in the remaining seven projects, involving 4,248 tenements, only 818 were occupied and the remaining 3,430 were vacant though these projects were completed in March 2019-February 2021. In total, 75.61% tenements are empty.

Against the housing demand of 13.92 lakh, the Board obtained sanction for 7.08 lakh houses only during 2015-2021. Against this, 3.44 lakh houses were completed and the remaining were under different stages of construction.

“Since the GoI did not allow additional sanction of houses beyond March 2022, 6.84 lakh out of 13.92 lakh houses were deprived of benefits as the government failed to get them sanctioned during the mission period. The GoI should ensure that responsibility is fixed for this lapse,” the report recommended.