COIMBATORE: TNSCB’s housing unit at Ukkadam’s first question upon entering the complex would be whether if anyone is looking for a house.
If the answer is positive the residents would swarm up like flies within no time. They are so desperate to either rent out their flats or sell them out.
A resident said that the benefits of buying a flat in the housing unit were aplenty. It is in the city centre. Right from market to bus stand, everything is at walkable distance. As the building is constructed by the government, all the basic amenities such as potable water, sanitation and security are ensured. Rather than spending thousands of rupees outside for much lesser facilities, it is better to get one in the housing unit. A flat will be more than enough for a family of four.
There are four floors – ground plus three – in each block and each flat is 275 sq ft big. Flats on the ground floor are available for rent at Rs 3,000 and an advance of Rs 30,000. As the floor rises, rent comes down by Rs 500 and advance drops by Rs 5,000. For leasing out the flats, an agreement for 11 months is signed.
Flats on the ground floor are leased out for Rs 2.5 lakh and the price comes down by Rs 50,000 as the floor rises.
The housing unit was built by Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) to accommodate the people, who were evicted from the public land that they had encroached upon. The object of allotment itself is defeated, if the flats are sold or rented out to others.
According to the terms and conditions in the allotment orders, the beneficiaries are not allowed to sell or rent out their flats. There are also provisions to cancel the allotment, if the beneficiaries are found to be violating the terms.
Another resident said about one-fourth of the housing unit was either rented out or leased out and many more were available. Pointing out that the flats were rented out for students as well, the resident said that the flats are available only for girls and families. Accommodating bachelors would welcome unwanted troubles. A few bachelors are staying in a flat and we would evict them as soon as the welfare association is formed. Families are not comfortable with them around.
A third resident also said that the flats were also available for sale and the cost ranged between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 6 lakh. But it is advisable to wait for at least six months to purchase a flat here. The residents have just moved in and haven’t completed the verification process, which is mandatory to get the ownership documents. Officials would drop in anytime for verification and it might lead to unwanted troubles.
He said he had two flats in the housing unit as TNSCB had demolished two of his houses, which were constructed along waterbodies. He owns a house with three bedrooms in the city. There are several people like him, who had got flats in the housing unit.
The housing unit with 1,840 flats in 20 blocks had remained vacant for almost a decade after a couple of blocks sunk into the ground in 2009. It’s only a few months ago that TNSCB allotted the flats as alternative accommodation for encroachers evicted from waterbodies. The flats were given to them free of cost after the city corporation took care of the costs – Rs 36,000 per flat.
When contacted, A L C Kumar, executive engineer of TNSCB, he said that specific instructions have been given to not sale or rent out the flats. If the residents violate the terms, their allotment orders will be cancelled. As the details like biometric and Aadhar card number of the beneficiaries are collected, verification could be done at any time. Similar complaints have been coming in as a result of which public awareness has been created.
Source: ET Realty
Image Source: New Indian Express