BJP says Ahmedabad civic body spends more on housing for poor than Centre

The BJP leader in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Gautam Shah, said it was the civic body and not the Central government who was spending more for housing schemes for economically weaker sections (EWS) of the city.

"If you add the value of land that is being used for EWS housing schemes, the AMC and/or the state government is contributing more than the Central government," said Shah.

The explanation was made during a press conference on Monday, where standing committee chairman Bhupendra Shah and EWS housing committee chairman Hasmukh Patel were present.
Gautam Shah also added that it was a wrong notion that it was the Centre's aid through Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM).

According to Hasmukh Patel, under JnNURM's first phase, 18,976 houses are to be built at a cost of Rs33,876 lakh. "JnNURM only bears 50% cost of the construction whereas the remaining expenditure is borne by the AMC."

As per the calculations provided by them, the projected cost of each house of 32 square yard is set at 1.78 lakh in DPRs. But if the inflation is added at the current RBI index rate, the cost comes down to Rs2.50 lakh. Further, the cost of land for each home comes down to Rs1.60 lakh at the rate of Rs5,000 per square yard.

"Thus the final cost of each home is Rs4.10 lakh and not Rs1.78 lakh," added Patel. Through this calculation, he also claimed that AMC is contributing 61.97 % as against the common belief of 20%. "Peopel are giving credit only to JnNURM  but in reality, the scheme only contributes 21.70 % of the total cost, he said.