Gujarat Plans 110 New Bureaucrat Bungalows Amid Housing Crunch

The residences will have five or more bedrooms, and the entire project will be carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD) with a budget of Rs 150 crore. 

The state has two policies in place to provide housing to senior government officers. One is to rent out government bungalows, and the other is to allocate plots at a concessional rate to enable officers to build their own homes.

However, the policy of allocating government plots to officers has been suspended for the past 24 years, leading to an ongoing housing crunch in the capital.

Historical Context

In the 1980s, the state government implemented a policy offering government plots of 330 sq m at concessional rates in Gandhinagar for officials to build their homes.

Over the years, the government had allocated more than 30,000 plots at concessional rates to MPs, MLAs, IAS, IPS, IFS, and other officials in Gandhinagar. But, these plots were resold at market prices, leading to a court injunction years ago.

Due to breaches of the terms and the resale of these plots in the market at higher prices, this policy was discontinued in 2001. The state government ceased offering the housing policy benefits and as a result, officials were no longer able to construct their own homes.

Currently, government housing is provided in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. However, with many of these residences becoming unfit for habitation, the decision has been made to demolish and replace them with new accommodations.

New Bungalows

The PWD has started the process of demolishing the dilapidated Hayat government bungalows to construct luxurious five-bedroom bungalows in their place.

State Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai stated that in Gandhinagar, 20 bungalows will be built in Class-K, 30 in Class-Kh, and 60 in Class-G, each with more than five bedrooms. Existing bungalows, which are no longer habitable, will be demolished, and the space will be used for new residences.