Builders Must Change The Way They Build Houses

Ms. D Thara, a 1995 batch IAS officer from Gujarat cadre working as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is a well respected senior bureaucrat who has made a crucial contribution in formulating and executing key policies in the real estate and housing domain including PMAY, Central Vista project and ‘Har Ghar Nal’ (water security). Here, she bares her mind about the success of flagship policies of ‘Housing For All’, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(PMAY), role of private developers in boosting housing, particularly affordable housing and her mantra to real estate developers on undertaking sustainable housing. Excerpts        Vinod Behl

On the success of the landmark Housing for All scheme  of the Modi government that had the highest budgetary allocation in the last decade. 

The credit for this goes to the vision and commitment of the leader. This commitment continues which is well demonstrated by the Modi 3.0 which in its first cabinet meeting, took a landmark decision to build 3 crore additional houses (including 2 crore urban and 1 crore rural houses) over the next 5 years , extending the incentives under PMAY for affordable housing.

Narendra Modi who envisioned the size and scale of the housing scheme , has the complete idea of what , why and how it is to be done. His vision and farsightedness is also reflected in a progressive decision he took many years back wherein for the first time he introduced the concept of separate zone for affordable housing in the master plan of Ahmedabad city. Generally, a city master plan has residential, commercial and industrial zones. However, in Ahmedabad, the most lucrative area was dedicated to affordable housing and only 10 percent of the area was left for the commercial zone. This resulted in the creation of 2.5 lakh affordable  housing units of 30 sq nt and 60 sq mt size.

On her take on sustainable housing and the role of private real estate developers ?

Private builders must change the way they build houses. In their housing projects, they should decentralise the water and energy production system and compulsorily make provisions for rain water harvesting and solar  energy . They must not depend on outside sources for their water requirement and rather they should meet their water and energy requirements from their own buildings.

There is also a need for seamless safe spaces. Unlike in India, developed countries do not have gated communities. Rather, they have an ‘eye’ on space. We must have safe street spaces for city residents to survive and sustain. Real estate developers should build housing societies which are pedestrian and cyclists friendly . For children , there should be walkways and cycling paths to school along with playgrounds within the community.

On magic mantra for successful implementation of government policies. 

There is no magic mantra as such. It is the political establishment which gives us  opportunity ,direction and space to work and grow. And it is up to us bureaucrats how we perceive and handle it. It all depends on our honesty and commitment. As far as I am concerned, I go beyond clutter and processes and only look at people for whom the particular policy is meant . I was given years of opportunity in Gujarat and Delhi to learn and grow.

It is all about making people around you realise their potential, motivate them and customise your approach to each of them . Ultimately, practice makes you perfect. In the end, I would say that the successful implementation of any policy depends on clarity of purpose – what we are doing and why we are doing.

Excerpted from the interactive session between Niranjan Hiranandani, Chairman, Naredco and  Ms. D Thara, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, at the recent Naredco Mahi Convention held in New Delhi.