State government to allot 10,000 houses for Maharashtra Police officers

Soon Maharashtra Police officers will be allotted new flats under a scheme by the state government. The scheme will benefits thousands of police officers living in dilapidated houses. Maharashtra government has promised 10,000 houses to police officers. The work for the project had faced hurdles since the last few days, but soon the project will receive a boost as CM Uddhav Thackeray will conduct the 'bhoomi poojan'. 

The officers will be in ownership of the flats which are being constructed in Khalapur within an area of 120 acres. The 10,000-flat housing is being called a mega project.

Currently, there are close to 2.20 lakh police officers in the state but as compared to number of officers, there are only 1.07 lakh flats. Out of the 1.07 houses, 30,000 are estimated to be an extremely dangerous condition. Therefore, there are only 77,000 houses in the state, safe and habitable for the officers.

Therefore, with joint-funds from the State Government and Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), the flats will be constructed by establishing housing societies and appointing private developers.

Meanwhile, the police officers will look after the process of formation of the society whereas the state government will overlook technical aspects such as registration, prepare a formation plan, appointment of the development.

Since the last few years, a similar housing project has been stalled due to lack of permissions for the floating tender along with technical issues. However, due to the relentless efforts by Inspector Genreal of Police, Pratap Dighavkar, the ambitious project has finally seen the resumption of the project.

So far, 7,000 police officers have registered fro the houisng project and soon, 3,000 more officers will be registering . In 2010, the then Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik had stated that the houses must be built using cluster style. The land in question belonged to the farmers and so, the government initially purchased the land from them. 

Meanwhile, as the permissions for the housing project have been acquired, the government has employed Hyderabad's Cube Consultant Engineering Ltd. to carry out the construction work. Alongside, the police officers who are financially weak, will also get a loan at an interest of eight per cent.

Once it is completed, the inauguration for the same will be conducted by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Uddhav Thackeray. The priority of the project will be to provide housing to the assistant sub inspectors. The police officers will be receiving a grant of ₹2.67 lakh under the PMAY. While the houses are priced at ₹45-₹50 lakh, the flats will available at ₹15 lakh for the officers.

Once this project is finished, the government plans to bring similar projects in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, and Aurangabad.