It seems the state housing ministry is in no mood to revive Shivshahi Punarvasan Pakalp Ltd (SPPL) anytime soon. In a high-level meeting chaired by the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday, the state housing ministry and senior bureaucrats of the housing department proposed the target of building 6.5 lakh affordable homes in the state by 2020, which contradicts the claim made by the state government to build 19 lakh affordable homes in the state by 2022.
This newspaper is in possession of a copy of the power point presentation, which has no mention of targets of building affordable homes for the SPPL, which the Maharashtra government had recently decided to revive. In August 2015, Mr Fadnavis had announced funds of Rs 500 crore for SPPL, which was formed back in 1998, to fund redevelopment and rehabilitation of slums in the state.
A senior bureaucrat, who did not wished to be named, said, “The funds which SPPL was supposed to get has only remained on paper and SPPL has not received any funds from the state government as it was announced by Mr Fadnavis earlier in August.”
The power point presentation also reveals that the targets that were proposed to Mr Fadnavis had targets mentioned for every single housing agency of the state like that of Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) and City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco). But the power point presentation has no mention as to what is the target set for SPPL to build affordable housing by 2020.
The meeting was attended by housing secretary Shrikant Singh, vice-president of Mhada S.S. Zende, chief executive officer of SRA Aseem Gupta and the managing director of SPPL, Debashish Chakraborty.
A senior bureaucrat who attended the meeting, on the condition of anonymity said, “Mr Fadnavis scolded the housing minister and senior bureaucrats and ordered to start working rather than just making power point presentations.”
Proposed target Mhada: 109298 affordable homes by 2020 SRA (Mumbai): 2 lakh affordable homes by 2020 SRA (Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad): 50,000 affordable homes by 2020 BSUP (Basic Services to Urban Poor): 62,454 affordable homes by 2020 Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP): 39,543 affordable homes by 2020 ‘Housing For All by 2022’: 60,000 affordable homes by 2020 Maharashtra Region Development Authorities: 90,953 affordable homes by 2020. Cidco: 46,187 affordable homes by 2020
