DHARWAD: Minister for Housing D.T. Jayakumar has said a Bill that has a provision for booking criminal cases against people obtaining Ashraya houses by presenting fake documents, will be introduced in the next Legislature session.

Undertaking

Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, the Minister said the step was to prevent misuse of Ashraya houses by the "influential" and safeguard the interests of the economically weaker sections.

While allotting Ashraya houses to the beneficiaries, an undertaking would be taken from them stating that they should repay double the amount paid for getting the house, if it was later proved that they obtained the house on false grounds. Once the Bill was approved, those found guilty would be booked, he said. He said another Bill would be introduced in the next session for safeguarding the interests of economically backward sections of society. The Bill related to earmarking 10 per cent of the area being developed by housing boards and development authorities for the economically weaker sections.

Suspended

The Minister announced that the Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) of the Slum Clearance Board, Sudhir, was placed under suspension with immediate effect in the wake of complaints by residents regarding issue of fake possession certificates.

The AEE had registered a police complaint that 237 possession certificates were missing from the office and police investigation is on. Mr. Jayakumar said in the wake of dereliction of duty, the AEE had been suspended till further orders.

Construction

The Minister said the State Government had embarked upon a plan to build 25 lakh houses in the State. To begin with, 7.2 lakh houses would be built in the coming financial year, the Minister said.

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