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| An under-construction flat near Officers’ Colony in Dhubri. Picture by Bijoy Kr Sharma |
Dhubri, Nov. 27: As many as 1,600 houses for homeless people living below poverty line will be constructed by the district housing board in Dhubri town or on its outskirts soon.
These houses for homeless people will come up as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Red Fort on August 15.
The Assam State Housing Board has asked its Dhubri district office to look for suitable land in and around Dhubri town for the project and prepare a proposal accordingly.
A source in the board office said they had found some plots of land required for the project and were going to take a final decision within a week.
This will be in addition to the ongoing housing projects for the economically weaker section and for those who can afford it.
This year, the target of the district housing board is Rs 50,000 for 52 beneficiaries of which Rs 20,000 is loan and Rs 30,000 subsidy.
Besides these, 80 flats are being constructed near the Officers’ Colony here and these are expected to be completed early next year.
Dhubri district housing officer P.C. Bora said under the new housing policy — announced by Modi for homeless people — nearly 1,600 houses would be built on 20 bighas of land in the town.
“We have got different categories of land, but we have to select suitable land for the project so that a plan and estimate can be prepared well in advance of sanctioning of the project,” Bora said.
Asked about stalling work of 80 flats which are still under construction, Bora said a total of 80 multistoried flats are being constructed for lower-income group and economically-weaker section and Rs 1,44,72,685 and Rs 1,35,37,524 have been spent for the two categories of flats.
An additional Rs 1 crore would be required to complete work and fund is expected to reach early next year, Bora said.
He said PWD (building) was assigned the task of assessing the value of the flats but the modalities for allotment were not worked out.
The construction of lower-income group flats which started on December 5 in 2012 stopped in November 2013, while those of economically-weaker section stopped in March this year.
A board source said general housing loan is now Rs 50,000 but a proposal was sent to the Centre to enhance it to Rs 1.5 lakh.
Employees of the board, unwilling to be quoted, rued irregular payment of salaries by the state housing board. They alleged that their salaries have been pending for the past four months.