No land acquisition by TNHB in last two decades

Tamil Nadu needs a land acquisition policy to create a land bank for affordable housing, according to P. Joseph Rajaratnam, Chief Engineer, Tamil Nadu Housing Board.

Tamil Nadu Housing Board, the public sector housing agency, has not acquired land in the last two decades and has been dependent on land bank built up in the previous years.

Special residential zones, land pracels

The new policy should look at creating large land parcels, special residential zones, along the lines of special industrial areas, to ensure supply of affordable housing. TNHB had created housing for the economically weaker sections and the low and middle income groups up to the 1990s. Over 2.9 lakh houses have been allocated to these segments out of the total 4 lakh houses constructed since the Board was set up in 1961, he said. He was speaking at a seminar on affordable housing organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Under the acquisition policy, land owners should be made partners to benefit from the value addition once development happens. As of now, there are over 3,000 litigations pending in various courts relating to land acquisition. For instance, the complications in land acquisition have also delayed the satellite township proposed near Thirumazhisai to the west of Chennai. Of the more than 1,200 acre land to be acquired, just about 300 acres are available “on paper,” he said.

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