Outdated norms 'depriving poor' of housing benefits under 2003 Gujarat Govt GR

By Aseem Mishra*

As per the Housing for All Plan of Action (HFAPoA) of Bhuj, prepared under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) in 2018, out of a total of 13,978 households residing in slums, 83 percent (approximately 11,631) houses were owned and were sited on public land.

PMAY gives Rs 3.5 lakh of government assistance to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) with an annual household income of Rs 3 lakh. Here, the condition is that the piece of land should be in the applicant's name. In the case of Bhuj, 83 percent of households lack land entitlement as they live on public land.

In-Situ Slum Redevelopment, another component of PMAY, is not viable due to G+2 height restrictions, as Kutch is categorised in Zone V in terms of seismic vulnerability, which is a very severe intensity zone for earthquakes; therefore, private developers are not interested in investing in this component. The same issue is with the Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) component of the PMAY.

Considering the technical glitches for availing benefits under PMAY, the Zameen Ane Aawas Adhikar Manch (ZAAAM) was constituted and nurtured under the Homes in the City (HIC) programme, searching for a solution to this blockage. They found the 2003 Revenue Department, Government Resolution (GR) of Government of Gujarat (GoG) No JMN-392003-454-A dated June 6, 2003 that gives authority to the District Collector to allocate land to an individual up to 200 sq metres, having an annual income of Rs. 48,000.

ZAAM disseminated awareness among slum dwellers around this resolution and encouraged them to apply for land allocation. As a result, 58 families living for over 30-40 years on the public land belonging to the state and owned by the District Collector of Kutch applied for the land with all the necessary documents and paid the 1% of jantri price of the land and wished to pay rest of the jantri price of the land, in case land allocated to them.

Most of the applications submitted in 2022 and 2023 were rejected by the Collector's Office as their household income is above Rs 48,000 per annum.

Minaxi Chouhan, convenor of ZAAM, said, “Most of the families have annual income of Rs. 60,000-70,000. Rejecting these applications in 2023-24 based on the income criteria set in 2003 is invalid and does not provide justice to these families. Moreover, Central government schemes such as PMAY, National Food Security Act (NFSA), Aayushmaan Bharat, etc. consider Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) those having up to Rs 3 lakh of annual income."

She added, "It is not understood why this discrimination and inconsistency regarding the annual income criteria for an EWS family is prevalent among different government schemes. Therefore, a letter was sent to the District Collector, copied to the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Additional Chief Secretary, and the Chief Secretary of Gujarat in February 2024 to investigate the matter, and revise the income slab considering other central and state government programmes/schemes as well as inflation in the last 20 years so that these poor families can get land allocations that open access to the PMAY to build their houses.”

As things stand today, there is setback to the promise of Housing for All-2022 made by the government due to poor execution of the GR

On 25th July 2024, Karshan Hirji Bhai Vaghela and Thakarsi Narsibhai Vaghela, residing in Juni Rawalwadi slum settlement, whose applications were rejected by the District Collector Office, visited the Swagat Programme at Gandhinagar (see photo) to update the income slabs in the 2003 GR and were given assurance that the CM office will look into this matter and do the needful.

We think that the 2003 GR is a very progressive step by the State government, but it has not been executed in its true spirit to benefit the poor in small and medium-sized cities of Gujarat. It is the need of the hour to make essential upgradations in this GR, considering the present socio-economic profile of the slum residents residing in the small and medium-sized cities.

The District Collectors should be directed to promptly act on the received application under the GR to facilitate the construction of dwelling units under ambitious PMAY.

As things stand today, there is a setback to the promise of Housing for All-2022 made by the present government due to poor execution of this GR, whereas States like Odisha and Punjab have passed legislations to give lands to the poor and then linking them with PMAY to construct their houses.

The inclusion of the poor to access the public lands ensures equitable distribution of resources in the city, solves the problem of ghettoisation in cities, and makes our cities liveable for all, just not for the rich only.

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*Programme Director, Homes in the City programme

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