Two capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar are faced with acute housing shortage. Owing to urbanization, rural population has moved in large numbers to the two cities. Jammu city has seen the influx of large number of refugees. This has brought tremendous pressure on land, labour and building material. The State Government has not had a long term housing policy in which land around the two cities would be earmarked for utilization in raising housing colonies. The result was that people in need of housing grabbed wherever they could get land and raised structures on them hardly waiting for the municipal agencies to accord permission in consonance with the plan which never is there. All this has created a mess of housing issue. There seems no way out unless the Government has a definite and long term housing policy. The Chief Minister while presiding over a high-level meeting to review the status of housing and commercial projects being implemented by Srinagar Development Authority (SDA), made some insightful comments on the issue of housing which, if implemented, would go a long way in opening an opportunity of providing shelter to the needy. He said that he knows three to four families are huddled up in a single or two room accommodation and this has impact on their personality. A Committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to speed up the projects of housing undertaken by the Srinagar and Jammu Development Authorities. The focus is on providing affordable housing to the needy people and more especially the weaker sections of society.
The Chief Minister has order proper monitoring of housing projects now underway. That is all right. But the fact remains that the Government has to come out with a long term housing policy. There is talk of building new towns and localities but there is no clear cut policy of how, where and when. The JDA, for example, has been grappling for long with land grabbing issues and thousands of kanals of land allotted to it are disputed. As such it cannot draw any housing plan or plan for raising new colonies. Housing is a complicated affair and all ingredients have to be taken into account. What is needed is developing at least two mega colonies in close proximity of the two capital cities with capacity of housing at least ten thousand homesteads each in the first phase. The raising of colonies has to be a regular phenomenon. It could be a joint public and private venture and the example of such ventures in other parts of the country could be taken into account.
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