BANGALORE: Home Minister M.P. Prakash on Wednesday said the Government's housing programme had suffered a setback on account of the rise in land prices.

Replying to B. Shivaram (Congress) during question hour on behalf of Housing Minister D.T. Jayakumar in the Legislative Assembly, he said a new policy would soon be announced fixing prices of land for purchase on a par with the prevailing market rates in the wake of private land owners refusing to sell land at the rates fixed by the Government. A survey conducted in 2003 had identified 10,42,986 families as homeless and without sites in the State. Deputy commissioners had been instructed to purchase private land in rural areas to allot sites to the houseless under the Ashraya scheme. During the last two years, funds had been released to purchase 582.22 acres of private land.

In view of soaring land prices, it was difficult to purchase land as per the Government guidelines, Mr. Prakash said. During 2005-06 and 2006-07, the Government allotted only 6,895 sites. In fact, not a single site had been allotted in Bagalkot, Bangalore Rural, Bidar, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Raichur and Shimoga districts. The programme to construct three lakh houses set for last year also could not be achieved, he said.

Mr. Shivaram criticised the Government for its failure to construct houses and allot sites to below poverty line families in the State.

To a question by B.R. Patil (JD-S), Mr. Prakash said the Karnataka Housing Board had purchased 210 acres for construction of houses and allotment of sites near Buddha Vihar in Gulbarga city at a cost of Rs. 8.90 lakh per acre. A committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner had fixed the price.

Mr. Prakash said the Government would frame rules to pay compensation directly to farmers who lose the land for housing and infrastructure projects. Middlemen and real estate agents had been "cheating" the farmers by purchasing land from them at lower rates, he said.

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