The policy decision on the contentious issue is pending for a long time now. Thousands of members of such cooperative house building societies, after having already paid the initial amounts to the Administration for allotment of land, are awaiting a decision in this regard.

According to sources, as per the UT scheme for Group Housing Societies - 1991, as many as 76 housing societies with at least 7,500 members are eligible for allotment of land in the southern sectors. Of the total 119 housing societies in UT, at least 12 societies have been declared ineligible for allotment of land.

Sources say that till now, as many as 33 housing societies with about 2,700 members have already been allotted 94 acres of land in Sectors 48 and 49 in the Union Territory, where the Chandigarh Housing Board was the implementing agency. Some societies who have already constructed dwelling units in these sectors continue to complain of lack of development in their area.

Though the total requirement of land for allotment of land to all the societies comes out to over 200 acres, the Administration has not yet acquired so much land. Sources say that the Administration has recently acquired about 50 acres of land in Sectors 50 and 51 for EWS housing and some land for housing societies also.

Earlier, the delay in allotment of land was due to the difficulty in ascertaining the real membership of such societies. Among the three kinds of societies awaiting land include those whose members have paid 25 per cent initial amount, those who have paid 10 per cent initial amount and also those who have paid 15 per cent initial amount.