Minister for Housing and Urban Development Sat Sharma today chaired a meeting to review the functioning of Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board and the progress of various developmental works being carried out by the department. The meeting was attended by Financial Commissioner Housing and Urban Development Department, Krishan Ballabh Agarwal, Managing Director Housing Board Manmohan Singh, besides other senior officers and engineers of Housing Board.The meeting was informed that the Housing Board has generated Rs 24.50 cr revenue in the year 2017-18.While reviewing the status of PMAY-HFA(Urban) Mission, the Minister was informed that Housing Board has got approval for 14036 houses under central assistance of Rs 210 crore and work has been started for 2000 houses in the state, which are at different stages of completion. It was informed that status based geo-tagging of these dwelling units has also been completed.The Minister was informed that 25 cities- towns of the state would be covered under PMAY Phase-I including Jammu, R S Pura, Samba, Kathua, Basholi, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur, Ramban, Kishtwar, Bhaderwah and Doda of Jammu division and Srinagar, Ganderbal, Budgam, Anantnag, Bijbehara, Shopian, Pulwama, Baramulla, Sopore, Handwara, Kupwara, Leh and Kargil in Kashmir division .
The Minister directed the authorities for effective implementation of various components of the scheme. He asked them to hold review meetings twice a month to assess the progress and process of implementation of the Housing for All Schemes.To cater to the increasing Housing demands in urban areas, the Minister directed for vertical expansion of cities by construction of residential flats in different colonies of Housing board. He further directed the Managing Director to expedite the work for development of Kathua and Reasi Housing colonies. He also directed for allotment in respect of 93 plots in Kathua through lottery draw.Earlier, M D Housing Board gave detailed resume about working of the board which include contract of infrastructure development of various other departments and development of own housing colonies and settlement of ownership issues in different colonies of the state.The Minister was informed that all the records of the Housing board have been digitized and efforts are on to switch over to complete e-Governance system.Later, a deputation of JKHB daily wagers met the Minister and apprised him about their grievances regarding regularization.