Close to 30% of the 7,500 beneficiaries in various phases of the Pradhan Manthri Awaz Yojana (PMAY) in the city Corporation are unable to either build or live in their dream homes due to various regulations, including the restrictions imposed by the Colour Coded Zoning Map of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Coastal Regulation Zone norms, and even the Archaeological Society of India (ASI).
Following the AAI’s recent decision to reduce the span of the red zone in the Colour Coded Zoning Map of the city, it was expected that many would be saved from the need to obtain No Objection Certificates.
From 20 to 11
From the earlier span of twenty wards, it came down to eleven after the reduction.
But the number of affected houses under the PMAY came down only from 2,500 to 1,700. A bulk of these wards, especially in the coastal region, are situated close to the airport.
The biggest challenge for the PMAY beneficiaries, all of them from economically backward sections, is the amount of money they need to shell out to get the coordinates of their land from the AAI-approved surveyors.
The two approved agencies, who provide services of calculating the distance from runway and the elevation, charge rates upward of ₹15,000 from the beneficiaries.
NOC exemption
“Ideally, people who are getting houses as part of such government schemes should be exempted from the need to obtain an NOC. The Corporation had written to the AAI highlighting this matter, but there has been no response. We have also requested the AAI to provide access to the software to measure the coordinates and height of a proposed building, so that we could provide this service to beneficiaries at less or even no cost. Penalising marginalised communities because they are marginalised is unfair,” said an official handling PMAY projects.
The beneficiaries who got building permit from the local body before the AAI’s NOC norms came into force at the end of last year are unable to get TC numbers, without which they will not get power or water connections.
The others are unable to get building permits at all, until they get NOC.
The Corporation officials have told the beneficiaries to wait for sometime before they shell out the huge amounts with the approved surveyors, in hope of a favourable stand from AAI.
Close to 700 PMAY beneficiaries in the coastal regions are affected by the CRZ norms, says officials. The Corporation refers such cases to the State-level sanctioning committee, who will take the final decision.
Even this process has some cost involved for the beneficiary, though much less than that in the case of airport NOC.
Another set of beneficiaries near the Thiruvallam Parasurama temple are waiting for clearance from the ASI.
A few beneficiaries who bought reclaimed paddy land, because of the relatively less cost, are now unable to begin work because of the norms under Kerala Paddy Land and Wetland Conservation Act, 2008.
“Such a high percentage of beneficiaries of a housing project for the poor getting affected owing to government norms is quite a problem,” says the official.
