The Board has fixed income ceilings for persons who are eligible to apply for EWS and LIG houses. In the case of EWS housing, the monthly income of the family from all sources should be up to Rs 3,500 only. In the case of LIG housing, the monthly income of the family applying for the scheme should not exceed Rs 6,000. The ceilings have been fixed, say officials, in a way that they realistically reflect current income levels.

Since the inception of the CHB, housing schemes have been floated for the dwelling units constructed by the Board. While some of these schemes were executed with the help of loans given by Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), other schemes were funded by CHB itself.

The financing pattern of HUDCO entails that loans become available to housing boards if only they follow the guidelines prescribed by the Corporation. For one thing, loans are available if the dwelling units to be constructed are differentiated by income-based criteria.

In this light, in the HUDCO schemes, CHB had no option but to submit to the prescribed financing pattern of the Corporation. The Board had to declare eligibility and observe allocation only to those beneficiaries who conformed to the given income criteria.

However, for its own housing schemes i.e. those not funded by HUDCO, CHB followed no such pattern, but rather went by a ``pick and choose'' policy. Either by omission or deliberate decision, CHB did not prescribe any income ceilings for potential applicants who would purchase houses in EWS or LIG categories.

The result of this policy - or the lack of it - was that over the years, EWS and LIG housing was being cornered by those who had the money, while a percentage of persons for whom these schemes were targeted, were left out. In the absence of an income ceiling, the allocation of CHB houses was often skewed in the favour of vested interests.

Sources reveal that the matter came to light when the chairperson of the Board, Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, stated in a recent meeting that perhaps for nearly the past 18 years, the Board had failed to observe the income stipulation in its EWS and LIG housing schemes. This was done despite the fact that the nomenclature adopted by the Board viz. calling them as EWS, LIG, MIG and HIG schemes, gave an impression throughout these years that there had been a linkage with income criteria.

Another point raised at the meeting was that if no income ceiling was to be followed, CHB should have called these housing schemes by different names such as `Apna Nivas' etc, rather than projecting an image other than what the nomenclature conveyed.

When contacted, the CHB chairperson confirmed that a proposal to fix the income ceiling was recently approved by the governing body of the Board. She also said that for the first time, CHB has finalised its own guidelines for low-cost housing. The income ceilings have been formulated keeping in view the recent revisions in pay scale announced by the Union government.

The chairperson gave the credit for this judicious move to all the members of the Board. ``The Board consists of a very enthusiastic set of members who are equally involved in pursuing the agenda of the Chandigarh Housing Board. We are examining whether it is feasible to incorporate some additional indicators of low income groups, other than income, which will safeguard their interests,'' she pointed out.

The construction of EWS and LIG housing schemes is expected to begin at site by November 1998.