Not following the tenets of Vaastu Shastra seems to have cost the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) dearly. The board has not been able to sell many of its newly constructed housing flats in Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Kalaburagi because they are not Vaastu compliant.
KHB Chairman Malikayya V. Guttedar, Congress MLA, told The Hindu that the board has sold just 565 flats of the 2,630 it has built in Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Kalaburagi.
“It is very difficult to apply Vaastu principles in KHB apartments. We construct flats/houses as per the building plans approved by agencies. Families are looking for Vaastu-conforming properties such as positioning of the front door correctly,” said Mr. Guttedar.
Desperate to promote its houses, the KHB has decided to offer 10% discount on the price of flats located in six locations of three city corporations. The discount would cost the KHB ₹60 to ₹70 crore.
The 10% discount is for its flats located at Kengeri-Bandemutt (220 flats, ₹2,800 per sq.ft), Kengeri-Valagerehalli (448 flats, ₹3,300 per sq.ft), and Suryanagara (333 flats, ₹2,950 per sq.ft), all in Bengaluru; Sheikh Roja in Kalaburagi (778 flats, ₹2,000 per sq.ft); Kudupu-Mangaluru (70 flats, ₹3,100 per sq.ft); and Kotekar in Mangaluru (216 flats, ₹3,000 per sq.ft). It was also decided to increase the repayment instalments from the existing four to 12 instalments.
A proposal was mooted to hire a private agency to advertise KHB flats/houses to increase sale of its flats, Mr. Guttedar said.
The KHB has sold 6,522 housing sites and 871 houses for ₹681 crore during 2016-17 on the principle of ‘no-profit-no-loss’. Mr. Guttedar added that the demand for housing flats in cities also declined owing to demonetisation of currency by the Modi government.
