There's more to housing than land acquisition

MUMBAI: Mere acquisition of a large piece of land under the urban land ceiling & regulation act (ULCRA) may not be the solution to Mumbai’s housing woes, the state government now seems to have realised.

Sources told ET that acquisition of surplus land in Mumbai under the ULCRA would not necessarily lead to a substantial growth in the housing stock. Government officials involved in the process of acquiring land believe the act itself could be given a decent burial before the state acquires surplus land and makes it available for housing.

“Once the act is repealed the state will not have any control over the land and there would be little scope to achieve the noble purpose of socialisation of surplus urban land. Absence of the act could lead to an open market wherein the original owners of the surplus land themselves or others who can purchase the land from the state at market price would also decide its use. And, that may not necessarily be affordable housing,” a senior bureaucrat said.

Concurred veteran activist PB Samant, who in July this year filed a PIL to seek information on land available under ULCRA, “it’s not clear what would be the status of the acquired land if the act gets repealed.

People, who are eligible beneficiaries today, may not be able to claim the land for housing in the absence of the act itself. I suspect the land could be claimed by unscrupulous builders and developers who would use it as their asset,” Mr Samant said.

Mumbai has 17,097 acres of land, which is eligible for acquisition, according to the affidavit filed by the state before the Bombay High Court on a PIL. The state submitted to the court that it would issue notices for acquisition to 338 owners of this vast surplus land before December 31, ’07.

The state also gave a commitment to the court that it would acquire a little more than 1,000 acres under the act within six months from August 17, ’06. Interestingly, the state has given a commitment to the centre to repeal the ULCRA in ’07.

“If the government really acquires 1,000 acres by February 17, ’07, there would still remain 16,000 acres of land it has to take possession of. Though we have expedited land acquisition, it’s an uphill task to meet the six-month deadline. By any standards, taking control of another 16,000 acres by December ’07 is almost impossible,” a government official said.

Under the act, an individual or a company cannot hold land in excess of 500 square metre. Land in excess of this ceiling has to be declared by the owner as surplus for it to become eligible for acquisition by the state government for a nominal amount.

Government officials said there are two options the state can use the acquired land for affordable housing. It can allow the original owner to retain the surplus land on the condition that he constructs houses on the surplus portion and the state would have rights to reserve 5% of the total houses as its quota for the eligible people.

Otherwise, eligible people who are in genuine need of houses can organise themselves into several co-operative societies and claim land from the state free-of-cost to construct houses at their cost.

The second option has been demonstrated successfully, Mr Samant pointed out. In 1992, low-income group people in Malad East successfully claimed 62 acres of land from the government, sought loans from the banks, and constructed 6,000 tenements of 350 sq ft each costing each owner between Rs 2.3 lakh and Rs 4.5 lakh.

“The Nagari Nivara project, as it is named, in Malad is a demonstration that if land is made available, Mumbai’s housing problems could be solved in a systematic manner,” Mr Samant said.