Important thread via: Muzamil Jaleel

Two new and important policy decisions have been taken by J&K administration today which are going to have far reaching consequences.

1.J&K administration today approved amendment to the Control of Building Operations Act, 1988 & the J&K 1

Development Act, 1970 to allow notifying any areas in J&K as “strategic areas” where the Indian armed forces can carry out unhindered constructions and other related activities etc they deem needful through a special dispensation. 2

What does mean? The land on which existing camps/ cantonments of the Indian armed forces located in various areas (which are notified as strategic areas) or where new camps/ cantonments they think is important would be acquired. The constructions that are carried out would be 3

permanent. There would be residential blocks for the troops and their families (Till now only a few camps are family stations). Many camps currently are based in private properties like orchards, houses, state government properties and thus temporary. 4

An entire area can be designated as strategic area which can be taken over and developed for the use of armed forces and their families etc.

2. The J&K administration has also accorded sanction to the proposal of Housing & Urban Development Department for adoption 5

and notification of J&K Housing, Affordable Housing, Slum Redevelopment and Rehabilitation and Township Policy, 2020. The target of this new policy is to come up with 2 lakh houses. The J&K administration has set an initial target to construct one lac dwelling units over the 6

next 5 years. According to an official statement, the policy envisages seven models of housing, ranging from “in-situ slum redevelopment to integrated township. These dwellings and townships, as per the new policy, will be built through public-private partnership 7

which means housing construction companies and private builders will be contracts for this. There will also be a scheme for rentals housing “in which EWS families will be given dwelling unit on license basis for occupation and use for a particular period on making initial 8

depositit and monthly charges”.

The contours of this new housing policy, however, are not immediately known because the government hasn’t made the policy documents public yet. But whatever information is available, 9

it is clear that this Housing policy too is a major step forward to achieve goals set by the decisions taken on August 5, 2019.
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