Mah cabinet approves new housing, industrial, tourism policies

Mumbai, Nov 1 (UNI) The Vilasrao Deshmukh-led Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra entered its third year in office today by announcing a slew of policy decisions on the housing, industrial and tourism sector.

Addressing a news conference here after the weekly cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the new industrial policy envisages an industrial growth rate of 10 per cent by 2010, service sector growth rate by 12 per cent and creating employment opportunities for 20 lakh people.

The draft housing policy approved by the cabinet aims to achieve the objective of providing affordable housing to economically weaker, low-income and middle-income sections of the society.

The draft policy is an attempt to start a process of reform and liberalisation in the housing sector so that affordable housing is created on a large scale, Mr Deshmukh said.

The draft policy will be open to public debate during the next two months during which objections and suggestions will be invited and, thereafter, the final draft will be prepared for implementation in the first week of January next year. The new housing policy will be in line with the national housing policy, he said.

Rationalisation of the development control rules and streamlining of the building approval process are also the highlights of the draft policy.

The Chief Minister said it is proposed to introduce self-approval for housing schemes. According to the draft policy, rental housing is to be promoted, sale-purchase of flats has to be according to carpet area only, a dedicated housing infrastructure fund will be created and construction of transit shelters will be taken up in large cities on a priority basis. Special township scheme would be encouraged outside municipal areas of Mumbai, while the Floor Space Index (FSI) is proposed to be increased from 0.5 to 1 in ''urbanizable'' zones.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) covering towns on Mumbai's outskirts will be covered in this special township scheme, he added.

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