Odisha’s House Allotment System: All you need to know

Under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and being guided with his 5T principles, the Housing & Urban Development Department (H&UD), Odisha has taken a revolutionary initiative for achieving the objectives of “Housing for All Policy” especially for the beneficiaries under the Economically Weaker Section in urban areas of Odisha.

Under this initiative, Odisha Urban Housing Mission (OUHM) has developed a transparent and professionally managed web-based software solution as well as an android based mobile application namely “House Allotment System”. The launching ceremony of the House Allotment (HAS) System was organized today by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) supported by OUHM.

The System was launched by Minister, Housing and Urban Development Department, Usha Devi. She congratulated the H&UD Department for achieving a milestone in establishing a transparent and professionally managed system, for allotment of Economically Weaker Section houses, through the web – based software solution. ‘I hope this system will be a step towards achieving the vision and goal of our Hon’ble CM of providing a roof to all persons belonging to the Economic Weaker Sections’, stated Smt. Usha Devi.

Mission Director, OUHM, Debasis Singh welcomed all the esteemed dignitaries to the launching ceremony and highlighted on the importance of the newly developed web – based solution. Sushanta Kumar Mishra, Director – Town Planning, Commissioner – Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation  Vijay Amrut Kulange, Secretary BDA, Kabindra Kumar Sahoo and Vice – Chairman, BDA, Sanjay Kumar Singh were the eminent dignitaries present. Among others present were Secretary ORERA and other officials from BDA and OUHM.

Mishra gave a brief background of the HAS System. Highlighting on the provisions mentioned in the Housing For All Policy, Shri Mishra stated that, “The policy adopts seven models of intervention for creation of affordable housing stock and slum redevelopment. Model I of the Policy envisages that every Project Developer, be it Private Developer or Government Project Development Agency, must reserve at least 10% of the total built up area of a residential project, for construction of houses for the people belonging to Economically Weaker Sections. In accordance with this provision of the policy, by the end of FY 2021-22 approximately 1500 EWS houses have already been constructed by the Developers, which is now required to be allotted to the eligible and intended beneficiaries through a transparent and efficient manner. The House Allotment System developed by H&UD Dept will enable allotment of houses to the beneficiaries, through a fair and transparent mechanism right from registration to handing over of houses”.

Commissioner BMC, Kulange in his address congratulated H & UD Department and BDA for developing a mechanism to provide houses especially to EWS and stated that the application is a welcome step towards providing houses to the EWS beneficiaries.

Vice – Chairman, BDA, Singh said, “This application will be very useful to the beneficiaries as each, and every service related to house allotment will be available at their fingertips. He thanked the Principal Secretary, H&UD Dept. for taking such an initiative to cater to the needs of the EWS beneficiaries in a transparent manner. He also thanked Hon’ble Minister, H&UD Department for her guidance and continuous support”.

The key objective of this allotment system is to generate predictability, transparency and ensure social auditing. The system will work on the principle of a continuous process of registration of all those families, who want to avail dwelling units under the Housing for All Policy. This application will also help address the challenges of housing in the state by assessing the housing shortage in various cities and plan accordingly.

The other features of this web-based application are Legacy Data Management and Integrated Payments mechanism. The legacy data management ensures cross verification of beneficiaries who have availed housing facilities through earlier government schemes whereas the integrated payment mechanism ensures hassle free online payment by the beneficiaries.