Amidst criticism of Kashmir centric political parties against the involvement of outside developers of housing colonies, the administrative council headed by Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday transferred about 290 acres of land in Srinagar and Budgam districts to the housing and urban development department for the construction of housing colonies.

During the recently held Real Estate Summit-2022, it was decided to develop housing stocks in both the capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu.

However, the Kashmir based political parties had described the move as an attempt to bring in demographic change in Jammu and Kashmir.

Giving details of the government’s decision, an official spokesman said that to meet the increased appetite for housing in Srinagar city and give a push to the housing sector, the Administrative Council approved the transfer of land measuring 2318 Kanal 8 Marla in 7 villages at 17 locations in Srinagar and Budgam districts free of cost in favour of Housing and Urban Development Department for construction of Housing Colonies.

The construction of the housing colony project will play a very important role in the economic, industrial, social, and cultural development of Jammu and Kashmir. It will provide direct employment to skilled and unskilled labour as well as indirect employment to local vendors and youth, besides ensuring the development of local areas to meet the rising housing demand.

Accordingly, the Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) and J&K Housing Board (JKHB) have been assigned the task of finalizing the type designs and other modalities of these projects with a special focus on developing affordable housing on these land parcels.

In another significant move, the Administrative Council approved the exemption of 50% of passenger tax chargeable on various vehicles from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

The decision will address the genuine demand of the operators of commercial transport who have suffered losses on account of COVID-19 induced nationwide lockdown and restrictions leading to non-operationalization of the public transport.

The Administrative Council also approved the strengthening of Corporations under the administrative control of the Power Development Department by creating various posts in view of the unbundling of the Department.

The AC sanctioned creation of 64 posts at various levels in the J&K Power Transmission Corporation Ltd; J&K Power Corporation Ltd; Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Ltd and Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd.