Housing scheme IT park flats rejected on eco grounds, Chandigarh to re-approach Centre

Few days after the Union Ministry put brakes on the Chandigarh Housing Board’s ambitious project of self-financing general housing scheme at IT Park, the Chandigarh Administration has decided to send the proposal afresh seeking reconsideration of the same.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the chief executive officer of the Chandigarh Housing Board, Yashpal Garg, confirmed the development and said, “We will request for reconsideration by the national board.”

A letter sent by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change written to the Principal Secretary, Department of Forests, Chandigarh, said, “After discussion, the standing committee observed that the development of high-rise buildings near the sanctuary would lead to disturbance in the migratory paths of the birds.”

The letter specified, “The waste generated along with the noise and air pollution arising as a result of allied activities in these townships will have deleterious effect on the sanctuary and birds. The standing committee therefore decided to reject the proposal.”

While speaking about the project, a senior official said, “In fact, the reason why we will be requesting them for reconsideration is that the project area is around 1.25 kilometres beyond the eco-sensitive zone where construction is allowed. It is really a key project of the Chandigarh administration.”

In 2017, Chandigarh had declared an area varying from 2 km to 2.75 km from the sanctuary boundary that falls within UT as ESZ, which was notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Wildlife.

For the last two years, this housing scheme of the CHB had been stuck. Though the UT Administrator had given wildlife clearance, when the file was sent to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for final approval, the same has been rejected.

An eco-sensitive zone means that no permanent structure can be constructed for whichever and whatever purpose within this zone. Up to 0.5 km, no commercial construction of any kind is allowed and from 0.5 km to 1.25 km construction of low-density and low-rise building up to 15 feet is allowed, while beyond 1.25 km, construction of new buildings, including houses, is allowed.

The Chandigarh Housing Board had already released the self-financing general housing scheme at Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park measuring 16.6 acres, according to which they said it would have comprised 728 dwelling units of different categories, that is 4BR (28 DUs), 3 BR (448 DUs) and 2BR (252 DUs).

The board had already approved that there will be 28 dwelling units of four bed rooms, 448 dwelling units and 252 dwelling units of two BR. It has been planned on plot no. 1 and 2.

A four-bedroom flat under the general housing scheme of Chandigarh Housing Board at IT park was to cost around Rs 2.75 crore, the cost of three-bedroom flat was to be approximately Rs 1.90 crore while the cost of a two-bedroom flat was to be around Rs 1.30 crore.

At the site, Plot No. 7 measuring 6.73 acres in RGCTP was earmarked for government housing where Punjab/Haryana had given its nod for flats for its officials. PGI had demanded flats in the government housing. The UT Administration is also considering the same. Each tower consisting of 28 flats along with EWS houses have been offered at a tentative cost of Rs 56.52 crore to the Punjab and Haryana governments, PGI and UT Administration. There will be two towers each for MLAs of Punjab and Haryana governments, three towers for senior officers of Haryana government, two towers for senior officers of Punjab government, two towers for PGIMER, Chandigarh, and one tower for UT Administration, Chandigarh.

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