The Punjab cabinet on Wednesday approved a first of its kind policy on 'Rental Housing' to facilitate proper housing accommodation for students, corporate professionals, senior citizens, migrant labourers and others in the state.The approval on the draft policy of the Department of Housing & Urban Development came during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.The Cabinet authorized the Chief Minister, who is also the Minister-in-Charge of Housing & Urban Development department, to approve any amendment to the policy, if required in future, without putting the amendment before the Council of Ministers.The policy proposes several financial and physical incentives. It is proposed that the maximum ground coverage permissible shall be 60% of the plot area with maximum F.A.R of 1:3.0, as against the general plotted residential developments which have maximum ground coverage of 50% and permissible F.A.R of 1:1.5.
Besides, upto 2% of the availed F.A.R may be used for daily use shops such as canteen, ATM, Grocery, Pharmacy, Fruit/Vegetable Shop, etc, as per the draft policy, which further provides that there would be no restriction on height of such buildings subject to fulfillment of fire safety, structure safety and parking norms. Other features of the policy include fixing of parking norms @ 1 ECS/100 sq. mtr covered area.The policy also provides for financial incentives, such as CLU, EDC and Permission Fee to be payable @ 50% of the charges as applicable to residential plotted development. However the financial incentives will not be available to projects within municipal limits.The draft policy has been formulated in view of the fact that due to lack of proper housing accommodation in educational campuses, corporate units/call centres, business or Industrial establishments etc., about 80% students and working professionals/migrant labourers etc. have to seek accommodation outside educational campuses or work places/Industrial establishments. As a result, a large number of paying guests facilities and old age homes etc. are coming up in urban areas without proper facilities.Similarly, due to lack of proper accommodation for migrant labourers, a number of slums have come up, which do not have even basic facilities. This not only encourages unauthorized and unplanned development but also makes the life of the residents miserable.