Houses under Rural housing scheme pinches the poor

The recent Gujarat Government decision to increase per unit cost of houses under rural housing schemes has not gone well with the opposition and the activists.

The change has been made to bring uniformity in rural housing schemes and provide high quality houses.

According to the new criteria, the houses under rural schemes will be given only according to BPL score.

The BPL score will be calcu- lated on 13 parameters. The parame- ters have been further classified into four parts and each of this can have a score of 0 to 4. In the next stage, parameters and score codes will be multiplied to get the final BPL score of the family. The families having a score from 0 to 16 will avail of the benefits under various schemes. This will also minimize malpractices being undertaken by talatis and sarpanchs.

The decision is taken to bring the state government schemes at par with the rural housing schemes of the central government. The additional cost and the selection criteria remam a point of debate.

Congress leader Arjun Modhvadia said that the poor

Unit cost of the houses borne by the government and the beneficiaries
	Earlier	Now
	(inRs)	(inRs)
Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (Government)	40,000	43,500
(Beneficiary)	5,000	7,000
Deendayal Upadhyay Awas Yojana (Government)	40,000	43,500
(Beneficiary)	5,000	7,000
Halpati Gruh Awas Yojana (Government)	40,000	43,500
(Beneficiary)	3,000	7,000
Awas Yojana for Tribal Areas (Government)	40,000	43,500
(Beneficiary)	NIL	7,000
Sardar Awas Yojana (Government)	36,000	43,500
(Beneficiarv)	7000	7000

The number of houses made under rural schemes till now

Indira Awas Yojana Sardar Awas Yojana DeendayalAwas Yojana Safai Kambar Awas Yojana AnusuchitJanjati Aawas Yoj ana (Tribals) Machhimar Awas Yojana AgariyaAwas Yojana HaplatiAwas Yojana the beneficiaries in schemes including Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana, Deendayal Awas Yojana, Haplati Gruh Yojana.

The BPL scores prepared by the government are based on a survey undertaken in 2003. But the BPL scores in Gujarat have varied from scheme to scheme. While the score for Indira Awas Yojana the state has fixed it from 0 to 16, in other States it is 0 to 20. But, in Sardar Awas Yojana (the State Government's scheme), the BPL score has been fixed as 0 to 20

Dwindling demand and falling property prices appear to have created a platform for buyers to negotiate prices with developers, which till a year ago was unheard of. Real estate prices have seen a correction of 15-25 per cent. This apart, a further 5-10 per cent reduc- tion is reportedly happening during negotiations between builders and buyers.

However, a uniform price correction pattern cannot be mapped as correction hinges predominantly on factors such loca- tion, demand, supply and the developer's financial ability to weather the storm in the current eco- nomic slowdown.

Ruling out a further price correction in the near term, Mr Anand gupta, General Secretary, Builders Association of India, said that there was no scope for further correction in prices unless a builder wanted to incur loss.

No one would want to sell below production cost and no bank funding can be got once that happens.

Mr Gupta sees a sedentary market with stagnant prices over the next six quarters, before sales starts kicking in. Once the economy picks up and the prices are seen steady, sales will take place.

Mr Sanjay Dutt, CEO-Business, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, said the mismatch between supply and demand was such that even if developers reduced prices in the luxury segment, it would still be outside the ambit of a majority of home seekers.

Centrum researchers said high- end home prices in Mumbai are down from the peak values by around 20 per cent and developers were willing to negotiate a further 10-15 per cent once someone exhibits intentions to buy.

Mr Dutt said there has been a correction of 30-40 per cent in the secondary market of central Mumbai, and of 10-15 per cent in the primary market. In the suburbs, developers of some projects are holding on, while others have come down by 10-15 per cent.

In Bangalore, the primary sales market saw a ray of hope when Sobha Developers officially came down on their asking rates by eight per cent about two months ago. However, no other developers have overtly announced any reduction, though reductions do take place during direct negotiations. This is despite develop- ers seeing a 70-75 per cent drop in sales.

In Delhi, the secondary residen- tial market have come down by 7-8 per cent with a further reduction of 3-4 per cent known to happen on actual negotiation. The highest incidence of price corrections has been in the suburban parts ofNCR.

In Pune, price reductions are still largely a prerogative of individual developers. Those who have sold 85 per cent or more of the flats in their projects are holding on, while dips are increasingly evident among those who have sold 50 per cent or less. Overall, there has been visible softening of rates by 15-20 per cent.

In Kolkata, there is no softening of prices in the primary sales market. Even negotiation with an intention to buy makes no impact. Most transac- tions are happening on the secondary market, where substantial rates drop of 20 per cent is noticed.

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