TN unlocking 2.14 acre of Temple land for building affordable homes

C SHIVAKUMAR @ Chennai:

For the first time, the state government is unlocking 2.14 acres of temple land for the purpose of building affordable homes for poor as well as developing it for commercial purpose.

It is learnt that Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department will lease 2.14 acre of temple land belonging to Arulmigu Thiagarajar Swamy Temple in Tiruvottiyur to Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board for 30 years to develop it for commercial and residential purposes.

Sources said the 2.14 acre parcel of land will be divided into two and will be used for residential and commercial purpose. A committee, which was formed by HR&CE department to fix the rent for both commercial and residential purposes has charted out a 19-point charter for leasing out the land to slum clearance board.

This is the first time temple lands are being unlocked to provide affordable homes as well as utilise it for commercial purposes. It is a learnt that a committee was formed by HR & CE department to fix the rent.

Official sources indicated that the land has been divided for commercial and residential usage. A total of 1.17 acre will be given for residential purpose and slum clearance board has to pay Rs 1.53 lakh as rent per month.

Similarly, 0.97 acre of land will be leased out for commercial purpose and the committee has fixed the rent at Rs 3.8 lakh per month.

The commercial land once developed by slum clearance board will be auctioned and 10 per cent of the auction amount or the rent (Rs 3.8 lakh per month) whichever is higher will be given to the temple trust.

Simililarly, it was decided that six month rent will be paid upfront as advance to the temple. Every three years, the rent will be increased by 15pc. Even the advance amount has to be increased by 15pc every three years.

The maintenance of buildings and land will be done by Slum Clearance Board.

The move by government comes after Chennai based think-tank Mylapore Institute for Policy Research (MIPR) mooted the proposal to unlock the temple land to provide affordable housing in Chennai.

The move comes as Tamil Nadu government is facing pressure over construction of 8.30 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for urban areas as it doesn’t have enough funds or land to build homes for those who are houseless. As per official records, there is requirement of 1,630 acres of land to build the houses under Affordable Housing in Partnership in Chennai alone as majority of houseless people living in slums are from the city.

Since the government lands to construct houses within Chennai is negligible, it is learnt that the state government is identifying surplus lands with various government  departments so that it can be transferred to slum clearance board to construct homes for the houseless who don’t own land.

Even the state housing board which is facing land crunch, is seeking amendments to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Compensation, Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Act 2017 after the rules have been notified by the state government.

Demand assessment under four components of PMAY:

1. Insitu Rehabilitation: 27,300 families

2. Credit Linked Subsidy scheme: 1.47 lakh

3. Beneficiary Led Construction: 3.88 lakh

4. Affordable Housing in Partnership: 2.66 lakh

Total: 8.29 lakh families