CHB board meeting postponed to February 12

Due to the Chandigarh Housing Board’s failure to convene a board meeting for nearly two years, the issue of need-based changes continues to hang fire, leaving about 60,000 property owners on tenterhooks

Important decisions regarding the city’s housing situation remain on hold as the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has postponed its board of directors meeting for the second time. The meeting, initially set for January 31 after a 20-month gap, is now scheduled for February 12. The last time the board met was in May 2023.

Even in 2023, the board managed to convene only two meetings – one in February and the other in May. (HT File Photo)

Due to the CHB’s failure to convene a board meeting for nearly two years, the issue of need-based changes continues to hang fire, leaving about 60,000 property owners on tenterhooks.

In October last year, UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria had reconstituted the board of directors for a period of three years.

The official board members include CHB chief executive officer (CEO), UT finance secretary, UT estate officer, UT chief architect and UT chief engineer, while the non-official members are BJP leader and former councillor Shakti Prakash Devshali, retired PCS officer Balbir Singh Dhol and a city-based architect Vinod Joshi.

Even in 2023, the board managed to convene only two meetings – one in February and the other in May.

In December 2023, the then administrator, Banwarilal Purohit, had assured that authorities were reconsidering need-based changes and would frame a policy accordingly, but nothing materialised.

CHB Residents’ Federation president Nirmal Dutt said, “In the past decade, the issue of the need-based changes policy has generated much heat and dust, but no solution has yet been found. We feel officers are not taking the issue seriously, and if it is not sorted out, we will hold a protest.”